A New Window
by Platinumsabr
Summary: Sequel to What The Eyes Can't See. One punch started it all, and one chance encounter seemed destined to end it before it began. For a pairing a generation in the making, what lies ahead?
1. A New Window

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**WARNING! THIS IS A SEQUEL!! REPEAT! THIS IS A SEQUEL!! PLEASE READ "WHAT THE EYES CAN'T SEE" (link available through my profile) BEFORE BEGINNING THIS STORY!**

**Enjoy!**

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**A New Window**

**.**

It's often been said that for every door that is closed, a window is opened. The future is a maze of possibilities; each choice a door closed or a window opened. Married life had only just begun for the two with near unlimited life-spans, but there were other lives just beginning.

Lives that would soon learn all about the world, and about themselves.

………

Life had been interesting for Kaien Kurosaki.

Only a few short years had passed since their meeting at the dojo, but since then he and Kin Urahara had been inseparable. He still hadn't figured out how his parents knew her parents, or why they hadn't met before that fateful day if that was the case, but needless to say he knew meeting her was one of the turning points in his life. Now, unlike him, she was an only child; or so the case was so far at least, and there wasn't a force strong enough to keep them apart.

They did everything together; they went to school together, they went to sports together, they fought together. Gender was of no consequence to them, and anyone unfortunate enough to point that out was quickly set in their place. There was one thing however; one thing that kept nagging at his mind all throughout the years of his life. Everything felt…easy. Sure, he trained a whole lot and Kin was a major factor in the reason for his strength, but everything still felt…simple.

Schoolwork was a joke; no matter how much Kin had him beat in brains—and her strange sense of understanding he felt mimicked whenever he was near her father—he was still smarter than most everyone else. He was stronger than most kids he knew, faster too. His eyes made seeing in the dark a breeze, and Kin had that same advantage, but for him there was a sense of _comfort_ in the dark that almost disconcerted him. Even if he was only twelve years old at the time, he was old enough to understand that.

His family wasn't normal though, he was also smart enough to understand that. Sure, his dad was a doctor, but he could never understand why they were always visited by so many people wearing white coats. Those strange symbols on their backs didn't help him any. He could understand that they were doctors if they were just wearing the coats, but for some reason they always wore black kimonos under them. What was even stranger were the swords they always had somewhere on their person. Eventually he just started shrugging it off. They had been there when his siblings had been born, so he guessed they had to be doctors no matter what they wore.

He had only been four, but it was shortly after his meeting with Kin that his mother had become pregnant with his sisters.

That's right. _Sisters_. Plural. He might have just been four, but he knew enough to feel sorry for his dad for being cursed with his father's fate. Aunt Karin and Aunt Yuzu were the coolest to him, but for some reason he had felt a small bit of trepidation at the thought of having two sisters, instead of being the only one lavished with love like had been the case before. Still, like any good little boy he was fiercely protective of his mother, especially in her pregnant state. His father was no different, and he loved riding on his shoulders as they walked everywhere beside the woman their lives revolved around.

He knew all about his mother's temper, even though it was never directed at him. At those strange doctors yes, and even at Aunt Hiyori or Uncle Kensei every now and then, but never at him. He also knew how strong she was, and how gifted she was in Karate. He had giggled as his dad literally _forced_ her to sit down during her pregnancy. It was a common occurrence to hear him say, "you've gone through it once, so why try to do the same things again?" Her huffs of defeated indignation as she pouted in her chair always made him laugh as he crawled over to his mommy and tried to make her feel better.

When Tsukiyomi and Masaki had been born the unease vanished. In less time than his little sister's first breath to her first cry he felt the same kind of protectiveness overtake him.

The first of the fraternal twins: Tsukiyomi, was born with startling white hair and Tatsuki's intense midnight-black eyes. That only increased his newly born desire to defend. His eyes had always made him different, and he was sure he was going to have to protect her from any ne'er-doers that would try to pick on her for her startling contrast to the black haired, black eyed society they were born into.

Soon after, he didn't know if he was overjoyed or sad when he had first seen Masaki. His late grandmother's namesake definitely fit what he expected, but in a way he was as surprised as anyone else. So far all the Kurosaki's had escaped Ichigo's bright orange curse. That changed when she was born moments after her older sister. The little girl had Ichigo's bright orange hair down to the darkest roots they could find, and even those roots weren't very dark. When she had first opened her eyes, they saw that she had also been blessed with Ichigo's profound amber-brown eyes.

Even now, he could remember his father's words after the twins' births like they were said to him just moments before. The man whose praise meant everything to him had squatted down to his level and looked at him happily, one of his new daughters cradled lovingly in his arms. Pain wasn't even visible on his face; quite commendable considering his wife had broken his hand in three places during labor. With Kaien she had only broken it in two.

"_Looks like you've got a big job ahead of you, Squirt. Think you can protect both your little sisters just like you only had one?"_

The answer that came after had of course been followed by one of his face-splitting, bright-eyed smiles that bled the confidence his parents had imbued in him. _"You betcha!!"_

A soft hair-ruffle had been his reward from his father. _"Good to hear!"_

He had yet to fail on that promise.

As he grew older much of his time was spent playing with Kin, while their group had grown to include Chad and Souken. Chad was the son of his dad's best friend: Yasutora Sado, and someone who he could sense had a deep sense of respect for his father, though he only knew her by 'Aunt Halibel.' The child had his mother and father's deep bronze skin, and his father's brown hair and eyes. Though he might have been significantly taller than him, he was no more built than the oldest Kurosaki child. Nonetheless, the amount of punishment he could take hardly justified that. Kaien was sure his friend would be able to walk into traffic and come out with only a few bruises, while the fiery pileup burned in the background. Even with that taken into account, he was sure having those kinds of muscles at their ages wasn't something normal.

Now Souken on the other hand was the son of another of his father's friends: Uryuu Ishida, and his wife, _another_ of his father's friends: Orihime Ishida. He had his father's blue-black hair and dark blue eyes, but like his mother they held every emotion inside them like an open book, whereas his father could close them off at a moment's notice. The wire-frame glasses were a must for the child though. No Ishida had ever escaped that. They did however, give him a poise and dignity that was almost disconcerting. He got that from his father no doubt.

They were all born roughly around the same time, but Kaien still took pride every now and then in holding his age over them, even if it was only by a few months. They weren't the only children of their parents—all but Kin—but their younger siblings were too young to understand language, let alone friendships. There was however, one thing in which the oldest siblings shared in their lack of understanding.

They were all blissfully oblivious to their true nature.

………

It was shortly after that they began learning who they really were, and who their _parents_ really were.

………

By the time they were both thirteen, Kin and Kaien were still as close as ever. Even he, gifted as he was, and the prodigy Kin failed to realize one very important thing: they had both hit puberty. While the newly acquired height difference between them should have tipped them off, for some reason it didn't. All it garnered was a very normal sense of insecurity on Kaien's part at suddenly being shorter than his female best friend.

Kin was rapidly following in her mother's footsteps and developing a figure any male on the planet would die to be close to, and Kaien's voice was changing from the lighthearted alto it was when he was a child to that of a deep, throaty bass. They had both continued Karate, naturally, and thus his body didn't have much to change other than the broadness of his shoulders and the added muscle mass that came as one gained in years. It was only natural that his growth in height would take longer, but at the time neither of them really noticed, or cared.

There was one side effect neither of them had anticipated though.

When they were kids, they would constantly train themselves against each other in the huge desert-like space Kin had discovered beneath her father's store. Having developed into an almost unsettling genius like her father, it didn't take her long to figure out all the possibilities such an area held and Kaien was the first to know about it. The rest of their group knew too, but the two were closer than even that friendship. As much as they trusted each other, there was something about their relationship that defied description, or even compare. It was something that, then, they had been completely unaware of.

It went without saying that she knew Kaien hated to lose, and she enjoyed it immensely when she beat him and was able to see the fire burning in his disconcertingly yellow eyes before his father's nature took over and he laughed it off. However, there was only one way for the Kurosaki child to win against Kin Urahara, and Yoruichi was much the same way.

In order to win against her: she couldn't be able to move.

If she could move, she could run. If she could run… he was screwed.

Simple as that.

Being that they didn't know the inevitable turn their bodies would eventually take, and since Kin acted more like one of the 'guys' than even Tatsuki did in her prime, he had no problem with the solution that came to mind to stop her movement. Put simply: he tackled her and held her against the ground until she grew tired enough to stop struggling.

Yet again, Kin wasn't the daughter of Kisuke Urahara for nothing. If anything, she had gained much of his knowledge and his strange sense of wisdom from her father even faster than the ex-captain had taken in acquiring it. Naturally there were limitations to what she understood; she _was_ only a child after all. Thus, when it came time to figure out a way from under her friendly attacker, it didn't take long for the Shihouin heir to think of something. What came to mind was the one thing every girl had against a boy, especially at the younger ages, which at the time, had been exactly what they had both been. What was that weapon?

Cooties.

Oh yes, even in their younger years, all girls knew intuitively they held some sort of strange power over boys, even if they didn't know what that particular power was meant for at the time. So what did the evil little mocha-skinned girl do?

She leaned up and set a small peck against his lips.

Every time he had her pinned and she was too tired to fight, she knew she had one last resort, and each and every time it worked like a charm. He would jump off of her instantly while rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand—spitting out whatever might have been in it like it was on fire—yelling, "Grooooossssss!! Why'd you do that, Urahara!?!"

She would only laugh and bound away on her miraculously-there second-wind.

Little did she know, for all of her advanced wisdom, what would happen when they grew older.

.

………

.

Now, now they were both well into their thirteenth year, and as they squared off in the underground arena like they had so many times before, they both seemed oblivious to the changes the other was going through. They had known each other forever, and noticing small details was hard when they weren't specifically looking for it. Kaien didn't notice the slight swell that was gradually growing on Kin's chest, nor did she notice the growth spurt he had, and was, going though.

Their parents' other lives were unknown to them, so this wasn't a battle of Shunpo or even of reiatsu, no, this was a simple battle using the only known forms of combat the Living World knew of. From jiujutsu to karate, they had been training in them all their lives, and against each other they had even formed their own styles of fighting that made fighting in the competitions easier than sneaking into the giant training area when they thought no-one was looking.

They stared each other down like they always did, psyching themselves up for the bout they both knew was coming.

A sharp inhale from Kin was all the warning Kaien needed to know she was going to charge in the next half-second. He was right. With what seemed like otherworldly speed she charged at him with fists at the ready, and had he not been fighting her all their known lives he might not have been able to get his arms up in time to block the kick aimed straight and true at his head. Obviously, that wasn't the case, and her foot sat between his crossed arms for a long while as their strengths struggled against each other.

"Getting sloppy there, Urahara. I saw that coming a mile away!" Kaien taunted with a sly edge to his voice.

He barely ever called her by her name. He had learned early that she didn't like him calling her by her last name, so like any little boy that was exactly what he did. By now the term had almost become an endearment, but if anyone else felt so bold as to call her that they quickly found themselves on the ground. Like her parents, Kin barely had any trace of a temper unless properly and thoroughly provoked, though she had no problem with uttering threats in a tone that would have made Yoruichi proud. She was calm and concise all the time, though her mother's playful nature came out more often than not. She was as curious as they came, thanks in part to her father and in bigger part to her mother.

"Cocky as ever, aren't we?" she taunted right back with a large Cheshire cat grin. Kaien knew that grin, and he didn't like it one bit. It usually promised pain in the near future.

Using her flexible female body and superior height, she was able to hop up even though her other foot was still trapped between Kaien's hands, and twisted around enough in the air to send her other sandaled foot at his unprotected head. Kaien cursed his stupidity for all of the nanosecond he was allowed, before he threw Kin's foot away and completely threw the body it was attached to off-balance. A very dangerous thing when that person happened to still be in mid-air. It was a move that he wouldn't have been able to pull off just a few years earlier, and even Kin was a bit surprised by the strength he was able to put into his arms. That was a quick thought though, because she wasn't stupid enough to forget she was flying through the air. He might have been worried had it been any other person, but he knew his best friend had as much grace as a cat and she would be able to get herself out of the situation he had put her in.

He hoped.

Luckily, just like he thought, she somehow managed to twist more while still in the air and land in a wide stance on the ground. She held herself there like something one would see in a ninja movie, keeping her hands at the ready, prepared to guard against any attack that may have been coming. Kaien may like winning, but against his best friend he wasn't about to take such an opening. That would be cheating.

Now that she was on the ground however, she was fair game. He charged at her again and their fight began anew, blasting their limbs at each other as fast as their bodies would allow. They had never had any reason to hold back before, and they found no reason to do so now. On the other hand, Kin was unprepared for the sudden strength that Kaien was gradually gaining with their steadily growing age. It was a fact—a _fact_, no matter how hard some women tried to deny it—that male bodies grew more muscle mass naturally and were more suited to physical labor at an earlier age. This meant she wasn't entirely prepared when one of his punches hit her harder than they had ever been able to before, and she could do nothing but fall back to roll away from as much as she could.

As essential as it was, she knew that move just cost her the match. It always did.

Sure enough, she soon felt her arms wrestled away from her stomach to be held firmly above her head—with what she was just noticing now were slightly larger hands. He had her pinned. Again. She hated being tied down, he knew it. He also knew it was the only way to beat her, so in fact it did _two_ things she hated more than anything. One: being pinned. Two: losing.

Something different formed in her belly as she watched the heaving body above her though as he smirked victoriously at her. He was so close, and his presence was doing something to her insides she hadn't experienced before. Why did the lips she pecked so innocently all the rest of their lives suddenly look fuller, and promised more than just the simple rub and "ewwww" that she usually evoked? Why did his chest look broader than it had been, and when had all those muscles formed? More important than that, _why hadn't she noticed sooner?_

Shaking off those disturbing feelings, the young teen—just barely old enough to be called such—did what she always did. She smirked right back at him before leaning up as much as she could and pecking him on the lips.

He froze in place instantly, and unlike before when he pulled away right away, with him being frozen Kin wasn't able to count on his moving body to pull their lips apart. Their wide eyes stared into each other as their lips stayed locked in the seemingly innocent kiss, and to Kin's utmost surprise Kaien actually moved his head _forward_ and _completed_ the kiss she had initiated.

That feeling in her belly was growing more prominent by the second. As her overloaded, over-intelligent mind recognized what it was they were doing, suddenly she was able to feel an unknown pressure against one of her legs. It wasn't his knees, she knew that, and his hands were currently holding hers above her head, so what could it be?

Kaien however, he knew what it was.

He jumped off her like she was the bearer of the Black Plague and stuttered his way backwards, mumbling apologies at her incoherently. She cocked an eyebrow curiously but she was only able to take in his florescent red face with confusion. Apparently her not answering was something that Kaien had feared most, and as he turned and ran away she was sure she could see _tears_ fly in the air as his head whipped around. Only then did she notice that one of his hands had been desperately trying to cover his groin. She could hear him trying to muffle his sobs even as he cursed himself with every colorful word she was sure was in the dictionary; some of them not even she had heard before. He was cursing, crying, and covering his crotch. But why?

For a genius, sometimes she could be surprisingly dense.

That was soon solved.

_Oh…_

She turned bright red, unable to even get up as the knowledge of what that feeling had been tore its way through her mind. Then the other important part input itself into her brain. He had been crying. He didn't know why he had reacted any more than she did, and he was ashamed of his own body's unfamiliar response. He feared their relationship had just been destroyed.

There was no way in hell Kin Urahara-Shihouin was going to let him think that. She knew Kaien. If he ever felt embarrassed, or humiliated, or scared, or in this case, the _worst_ possible case: all three, he always did something stupid. Even _she_ could feel the strange aura that seemed to radiate from him as he ran. She had never felt this from him before. It almost felt like physical pressure was being put on the air, but that couldn't be.

Little did she know their little stint had just jump-started his reiatsu.

His _very powerful_ reiatsu.

And right now he was alone. Things couldn't go any worse right now, but the only thought running through her head as her vision blurred to tears was that she was going to lose her best friend. He should know better than anyone that she would understand a simple bodily reaction, even one as unexpected as that from the last person she would expect it from. She had been taught a lot by her father, some things a lot of kids didn't even have any clue about, and her mother wasn't ashamed to use her feminine wiles to coerce her father. It went without saying that she had been taught the greatest asset a woman had going for them was their body when it came to certain things. She had just never understood that last part.

Never understood it until now that is.

She had just lost her first _real_ kiss to Kaien Kurosaki, and what she had felt pressed against her was his body's way of saying he enjoyed what she had done. He didn't have any control over it, just like she was rapidly realizing she had had no control over her body's reaction either. She had been aroused. For the first time in her life she had been _aroused_…and it had been her _best friend_ that had caused it.

She couldn't lose him, she couldn't, and she knew from experience that he was bound to get stupid when in this state. She could feel the wild fluctuations in the air around her, hindering her process as she ran to the giant ladder and started climbing up to the exit; the one he had disappeared out of quicker than she had ever thought possible. The pressure was almost unbearable, and it was getting harder and harder for her to move through the heavy haze that had come over the air for some unknown reason. She jumped out the trapdoor of the room and right out the front door that hadn't even been closed in his haste to get away.

He was running as fast as he could, and Kin Urahara was not one to be beaten in a race. Ever. That would normally be the case, but with the unfamiliar pressure she recognized—through some as-of-yet-unidentified way—was Kaien's putting weight on her, she wasn't exactly in top form. She could tell he was scared though. It was as if the pressure in the air was telling her that.

She was running down the road when she heard it.

_Oh no._

………

Kaien Kurosaki had never been more humiliated in his life. Of course he knew what had happened, but the thing was he had no explanation for _why_ it happened. Sure, Kin was growing up into a beautiful woman, and there were certain things only she could stir in him, but…

_But what?_ He realized as he jogged to a halt. Humiliation still firmly in place, his mind finally managed to think somewhat coherently after the mad dash of adrenaline had worn off to some extent. _How come I didn't realize it sooner!? She's growing up…_we're_ growing up. Maybe then I wouldn't have…!?_

His thoughts were cut off abruptly by a huge roar that cut through the air like a jagged knife, and he clasped his hands over his ears to try and stop the painful sound. Opening his eyes after the sound _did _stop, he paled.

What was in front of him wasn't a kid, or an adult, or even a _human_ in general. What was standing before him was a behemoth eight-foot tall monster that looked like something out of a bad science-fiction movie. As much as he would have liked to believe that, the bone-like mask and eerie teeth covering the bad stench of the monster's breath told him what was before him was all too real. He wiped his tear-streaked face and tried to stay perfectly still, thinking maybe the monster wouldn't notice him.

That was when he saw the beady yellow eyes of the mask turn down to regard him, and he knew that there was intelligence behind that mask. It might just be bestial intelligence, but it was intelligence nonetheless.

"Ahhhhhh," it sighed as a long tongue came out to lick at the air. "An especially tasty soul. There hasn't been one like this in a long time…" And then it was right in front of him like some magician that had disappeared. Kaien cried out in surprise as he fell to the ground from the force of the air suddenly pushed at him, his muscles shivering in fear. He tried to back away in a crawl from the giant's form but with each step back he took, the monster took one forward. It seemed to enjoy the terror that was undoubtedly radiating from him as surely as his large spirit force was.

The monster lunged unexpectedly and out of sheer habit Kaien impulsively raised his foot in a hard kick that sent the masked face snapping backwards, thus giving him the opportunity he needed to run away. There was no time for conscious thought, he did so immediately. It was a wasted effort, because soon later he felt a giant hand swat against his side and the overwhelming force behind the blow sent him flying into one of the concrete fences lining the back alley. He fell to the ground with a wet _crack,_ coughing blood from his mouth and struggling to breathe. He could hardly see straight. His equilibrium had been set completely off-balance and blood was flowing into his eyes from the wound on his head when he had hit the wall.

"I'm going to enjoy eating you…" the snake-like voice hissed happily, and he could feel the Hollow's shadow come over him the closer it came. He wanted to get up but his legs wouldn't comply; he wanted to fight but his arms wouldn't move; he wanted to scream but his throat wouldn't work. He was thirteen years old and about to be done-in by something he never even thought could exist, and worse yet it looked like something that had come out of some bad make-up artist's gallery.

_Oh well,_ he managed to think. _At least now I won't have to face Kin…_

"Kaien!" A scared voice exclaimed, and suddenly the blood that should have been going to his wound was draining away from his face for a _different_ reason.

_Oh god, no, not now!_ He thought in a panic and just barely managed to get his bleeding head to move to where the voice had come from. What met his eyes was his worst fear yet. Kin was standing there, panting from exertion and staring at him and the monster in fright. She looked tired, more than tired even, and her clothes were stained with sweat from the fruits of her effort. Her platinum-blonde hair was sweaty and pasted to her face, though the long ponytail had kept some of its firmness and was lying undisturbed on her back. Her incredible golden eyes were widened in fear at the sight of the monster, and he got the acute feeling that she knew what it was.

Had it been any other situation, Kaien would have found the look she was currently sporting extremely appealing. As it was, he was no longer scared for his own life; he was scared for _hers_. He could feel something different in the air, and for some reason he got the feeling it was coming from her. It was a strange pressure, almost like a sense, a _wavelength_ even, that identified her. With him seemingly out-of-commission, the monster had no problem turning away from him and to the new source of reiatsu.

"Wonderful! Two souls in one day! This will be a feast fit for the King himself!" the Hollow said to himself gleefully. Rubbing is strange hands together like a child it took the same slow steps toward the mocha-skinned teen as it had towards him, letting the fear seep out of her the closer he got.

"G-Get away from me, you Hollow freak!"

She may know what it was, but that didn't mean she knew how to fight it. She was at a complete and utter loss. What had her heart pounding in her chest though was not the monster walking towards her; it was the bloodied state of her best friend, leaning limply against the wall with near-lifeless eyes barely able to keep their focus on her. The Hollow raised his hand to strike, and the sharp claws at the end of his fingers spoke all too well what was going to happen when that hand came down.

Kaien Kurosaki may be one to not care very much about his own life, but the lives of others, _especially_ the life of his closest friend, was not something he trifled with. He knew why his heart was thumping louder and louder the closer the monster she called a 'Hollow' came towards her, he just couldn't understand why his wound hurt less and less the more he thought about it. He couldn't let this happen. He couldn't let her die. He saw the Hollow's hand come down as if in slow motion and he knew he had to get in front of it. Somehow, he just had to.

Kin closed her eyes as the inevitable approached her, only for the sounds of grunts and groans to meet her ears rather then her own end. Opening her eyes cautiously, they soon widened in both surprise and fear when she saw that somehow, Kaien had managed to get in front of her. By some miracle, he was actually holding off the Hollow's hand with his own two. He was visibly struggling however, but the Hollow was just as surprised as she was.

"H-How did you…!?" it asked in shock, unable to even finish its own sentence.

Kaien was having trouble, but not as much as he thought he would have against a monster at least two and a half, if not three feet taller than him and a good three times his width. He glared up at the monster from behind the hand threatening to disembowel him and tightened his grip.

"I don't know. What I do know is if you even_ try_ to hurt Kin, I'll make sure you're nothing but a smear on the concrete!" he threatened lowly, though it might have sounded more convincing was he not grunting to keep the hand at bay and wobbling slightly from the effects of his previous wounds. He too was just as surprised as anyone else at how he had gotten to where he currently was, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.

The Hollow was taken aback, but not by the boy's words. Instead he was shocked at the way the bright yellow eyes of the boy seemed to glow as if by their own light as he uttered his threat. The two hands pushing against his gained ground, and the monster witnessed crimson liquid start falling from the boy's eyes as they shone brighter. "What are you!?" it gasped.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!" Kaien screamed, and launched his hands away from his body with a strength even _he_ didn't know he had. The giant's hand was pushed over its head easily, and it toppled backwards from the unexpected force of the push. Not one to stay in the face of such danger, Kaien quickly turned and grabbed Kin's arm, pulling her shocked body behind his as he ran away.

"What is that thing!?" he asked her as he dragged them both along, trying to ignore the blood staining his face and getting into his eyes the longer he ran. He didn't know she was looking at him like he was from another planet, but sensing his panic and seriousness, Kin decided to answer him even as her own surprise and fright threatened to choke off her voice.

"I-It's a Hollow! My dad said it's a bad spirit formed from good souls that've lost their hearts! Never mind that, you're bleeding!!" she cried.

He wiped his face with his sleeve, though that only stemmed the bleeding temporarily before he was once again blinded by what was meant to keep him alive. Conversely, the tears of unknown origin had never stopped, but unlike the rest they seemed to fill him with strength rather than drain him of it. "Dammit! I can't see!"

Not too long after he said that he felt Kin's hand jarred out of his own, and he was nearly thrown along with her from the force of the Hollow's strike. She went crashing against one of the concrete walls, but unlike him, she made no noise, and made no effort to stir. She was out cold. He couldn't accept what the other possibility was, and that was that the pool of what was undoubtedly blood gradually growing on the ground beside her meant she was…dead.

Raw emotion assaulted him just as it had before, only this time with ten times the ferocity. Words couldn't describe his condition, but the glare he leveled at the monster came impressively close. Eyes shone the fiercest yellow imaginable, emotionless golden orbs filled with malice and hatred towards the beast in front of him. His blood boiled within him, surged angrily against his fate, and soon the only blood falling from his face was from his eyes. Power surged within him, anger the likes of which he had never known before liquefied deep into his furious glare. It had the desired effect, and the monster stopped for a second—likely out of surprise—but only for a second.

The best he could equate what happened next to was an out of body experience, because he hardly felt any pain when the five fingers clawed through his torso. The ugly mark ran down his stomach and sent more blood than the teenager could afford to lose spilling to the ground, sending him to his knees instantly. Glaring as best he could up at the beast even as his vision blurred and his limbs started feeling cold, there was a surprising lack of fear towards his impending doom. All that was left was an adamantine resolve that even if he was going to die, he wasn't about to give the beast the satisfaction of knowing he had been scared in his last moments.

"**Go ahead, give me your best shot!"** He taunted weakly, and was too focused on the beast to realize the change his voice had undergone.

He was sure behind the mask, the Hollow was giving him a smile. "No," it said calmly to its bloody and broken prey. "I think I'll eat the girl first. Such a pretty body with lots of reiatsu; she'll be a perfect appetizer until I get to you. Fear and anguish make a soul so much more delicious, and I can tell _you_ care for her."

Kaien's glowing eyes widened in panic. This was one course of action he hadn't anticipated. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't stand, he couldn't move, he could just barely see for that matter. All he knew was the one person that meant more to him than his own life was in danger. No more. No. More.

His blood was far past boiling, it was raging, an almost sentient fury begging him to close his eyes. He could practically smell the stench of death around him, feel the blood of the monster on his hands, taste it, thick and luscious in his mouth. There were no descriptions to give voice to what would the urge would do, only a palpable bloodlust that wanted nothing more than to sink its bare fingers into the behemoth and rip; an insistence deep within him that could feel blunt human teeth tearing through flesh and bone with single-minded longing. If only he closed his eyes, it could all be his. If he just fell into his desire, she could be safe. He could eat—

_Wait, where'd _that_ come from?_

Sadly, he _could_ feel his eyes closing, but not for the reason it wanted.

"**You get the hell away from my son!!!!!!!"** An eerily echoed voice suddenly shouted out.

Fresh hope jolted his system back from the abyss, and the son of Ichigo Kurosaki looked up to see where the voice had come from. Through sight blurred by blood and lack thereof, he saw a man with bright orange hair and glowing yellow eyes fall down from the sky with a gleaming sword in his hands. Unfocused in his vision he still managed to see his savior come down with the giant blade in hand, and with one smooth motion he had cleaved the monster in two like it had taken him less effort than it would to comb his unruly hair. Swordplay aside, the man's eyes were what had his attention; eyes lined by pure darkness rather than regular white sclera, eyes he knew he should know.

He fell back to the ground in relief as he let himself succumb to the unconsciousness that had threatened him, until he felt his head be raised into a lap he knew all too well. "Kaien?? Kaien baby, don't do this to us! Ichigo! He needs help fast!" he heard the woman yell at the orange-haired male.

Only then did his blurry vision focus in on the face of his mother, holding his body to her in fright as she kept his head upright in her lap while she stroked his hair. She looked…younger, and he saw his father looked just as young as he ran towards him. She had called the man 'Ichigo,' so that meant he had to be his dad, and that meant the woman holding him was his mom. His dad looked exactly like those other white-jacketed beings, clad in the complete black kimono, and the only thing his mother lacked from that outfit was the white jacket.

"**Mom…Dad…"** he coughed out weakly. **"Kin needs…help…"** Then his head lulled to the side as he finally fell unconscious, settling the voices of bloodlust within him.

Ichigo and Tatsuki looked down on their son in momentary shock. His voice had been that of a Vizard, unmistakably. Ichigo had long thought his son able to see spirits, so knowing that he could see them wasn't much of a shock to him. There was one aspect that had been though. His eyes had been glowing, but they had not been laced with black like most Vizards'. How he even managed that kind of transformation and stayed in control was absolutely beyond them, but the sheer volume of blood lining the area quickly brought them back to the Present. Ichigo needed to work fast.

Yoruichi and Kisuke had rushed over to their daughter, as they had been right beside the other couple as they rushed to where they felt the newfound reiatsu of their children burst forth. It wasn't for a good reason either. They could feel the fear in the spirit pressure, even though the _amount_ felt from the eldest Kurosaki child was cause for more than a bit of trepidation. Then again, the fact that Kin could even _move_ under that pressure was a testament to her own inner strength, and for a fledgling release as it was that was saying something. Kisuke was an ex-captain, and well versed in the arts of healing, but nothing of this extent. For once the ever-calm shopkeeper had _worry_ flooding his eyes as he propped his daughter into a better position on the ground.

"Ichigo! Hurry!" Yoruichi yelled frantically. She could feel her daughter's reiatsu fading. Had she been in spiritual form—had she even _had_ a spiritual form at that point—the kinds of wounds on her body would have been child's play, but being in an all too _human_ body, the wounds were enough to strain the spirit to try and keep it alive.

Ichigo set to work instantly, pulling the Fourth Division medical kit from his back and rushing to the two injured teens. He wasn't a captain for nothing, and Ogihci wasn't about to let his son die. Placing the two bodies side by side after realizing bandages wouldn't do anything in this situation, he placed one hand over each of the bodies and concentrated his reiatsu. The Fourth Division taught how to use reiatsu to speed the reishi recovery of what were essentially beings made up completely of spiritual energy, thus healing wounds faster. With his amount of reiatsu he could do everything short of bring the dead back to life.

The alleyway exploded into an array of blue and black reiatsu as Ichigo released the healing arts he had been taught onto the two bodies.

………

Ichigo and Tatsuki sat facing their old teachers in the shop they hadn't been to for this particular reason for over thirteen years. Needless to say parenthood had changed all four of them. Yoruichi was looking more than a little stressed, even though she knew her daughter was perfectly stable and resting after Ichigo's healing treatment. Urahara was as calm as he usually was, but his eyes betrayed the slight worry he was actually feeling.

"We knew this would happen one day," he said at last.

Ichigo sighed as he slumped against one of the nearby walls. He enjoyed being in his Soul Reaper form much more now, considering his living body was growing older and getting more inflexible and achy as time went by. In this form he was still barely twenty, and would likely stay that way for a very, _very_ long time. Tatsuki was exactly the same, though hers had changed to have her longer hair just like her regular body. Otherwise, she too was just as young as when she had first transformed.

"Yeah, we did. I guess we can be thankful they made it to thirteen before their reiatsu broke through the cloaking Kidou we put on them when they met. I would have preferred him to make it to fifteen like me, but it can't be helped now," Ichigo responded, and they all nodded. "At least they got a little bit of a normal life. It was only a matter of time before some stimulus awakened their reiatsu anyway."

"We should probably start training them as soon as possible then. Now that they're going to be targets they have to know how to defend themselves, even if the Espada watch out for Kaien like he's their own child," Yoruichi interjected sensibly.

Urahara nodded. "I think that would be for the best as well. Kurosaki-san, do you have any problems with that? It might be for the best if I train them into their Soul Reaper forms, and not you. I know your skills, but I don't think you have the control to keep your parental instincts silent when trying to train him. I can do that," he said solemnly.

Tatsuki chuckled slightly in response and earned a curiously cocked eyebrow from her husband's old teachers. "There's no need for that. Ichigo and I have known for a while that Kaien's soul is already a Soul Reaper."

This earned the widened eyes of the two sitting opposite her.

"H-How can you be so sure?" Yoruichi asked through a suddenly dry mouth. "The cloaking technique should have made his reiatsu completely undetectable; how can you know??"

Ichigo snickered as he raised his eyes to regard his friends and ex-teachers. "When he said his first words we knew. I don't think I'll ever forget them," he explained with a chortle.

His wife joined him eagerly. "Yeah. What did we think he was trying to say again? Something about Play-Doh…"

The orange haired man in his teenage body smiled. "It was: 'Play-Doh boar likes biting.'"

Naturally, the other two had absolutely no clue what they were talking about.

"And this is funny because?" the Goddess of Flash asked tactlessly.

Her young ex-pupil looked at her like she was a hopeless student, and smiled again when he went back to reminiscing. "Did we ever tell you about that time when we had to fix that hole in the side of our house? Turns out the little squirt was trying to say 'Hadou Four: White Lightning!' The little guy almost blew off Grimmjow's head!" He fell back into laughter after that. "I probably shouldn't have used that so much around him, but hey, hindsight's twenty-twenty, eh?"

Tatsuki managed to regain her wits faster than her husband, though she too had taken great joy in laughing along with him. "So yeah, considering he didn't blow himself up after using an Incantation Bypass without even knowing what he was doing, it was a pretty safe assumption on our part that his soul was already a Shinigami."

Urahara and Yoruichi looked like they were going to faint.

"An Incantation Bypass at that age!?" the Shihouin princess gasped. "Is that even possible?!"

Urahara grinned. "I suppose so, if Kaien managed it. You have to remember we had no idea what kind of reiatsu he would be born with, considering he was fathered by the Hougyoku itself. There's no telling what kind of abilities he could have been born with."

The companionable air that had been there moments before seemed much more strained after he had finished, and Urahara realized this right away.

"It wasn't passed on, I can tell you that much," Ichigo said softly as he looked down on one of his hands. "You created the Hougyoku, but when I merged with it…I can't really explain what its like. It's like it's me, but not me. It's another part of my reiatsu now, but my soul keeps it locked away unless I call on it, just like my Hollow. When you think of it that way it's like a swallowed crystal. If a thief swallowed a diamond and it got lodged somewhere in him, then he became a father afterwards, would that mean the diamond would get passed on to his son? No, it's still in me, well, it's still me I mean. I can't say it couldn't have done anything to him, but it's impossible to pass on. I mean, it's _me_ now."

Both older Soul Reapers looked relieved, especially at the knowledge that it couldn't be passed on, and hadn't been even after three children.

"How are Tsukiyomi and Masaki by the way? I haven't seen them in ages!" the mocha-skinned woman exclaimed for a much-needed topic change.

"Karin and Ulquiorra are looking after them right now. They both came to the house as soon as they felt Kaien's reiatsu. Besides, taking care of a couple of nine year olds'll give them a heads-up to what they'll face in a few years. I can't believe their little girl is already five…" Tatsuki trailed off as she shook her head in her hand. "Jeez, this body really throws off my sense of time. I feel like a teenager again, not a thirty-something year old woman!" She laughed.

"Speaking of that…" Urahara began, "How have your younger siblings adapted to their Soul Reaper forms? It was a bit harder on my part to get them out, but they both seemed pretty distraught at the thought of growing older than their older brother."

Ichigo laughed. "They've been enjoying them to the fullest, and I'm sure Ulquiorra and Jinta have been enjoying them too!" He snickered softly at the blush that rose on Tatsuki's face. "I never thought I'd have to train my little sisters in using swords, but the older they got the higher their spiritual power became, so we didn't have much choice in the matter did we?"

Urahara nodded his agreement. "Any children they would have had would have been true-bloods regardless of if they transformed before or after they gave birth because of the dormant status of their powers. Since they both manifested before their children were born it just gives more of a reason to watch out for their little ones. It seems like the Menos are growing more and more confident the more spiritual power they sense."

The eyes of the King of Hueco Mundo darkened into their Hollowized state while his face turned much more menacing than before. **"I realize that,"** he hissed lowly as he balled his hands into fists. **"I'm going to have to do something about that. Those freaks have been getting much too confident since I became a father. If not for the Espada I'd be a lot busier, but they like to kill and it gives them some exercise, so I don't mind."**

His Queen nodded. "Yeah, and the upside is we've been getting more and more Arrancar to accept the different lifestyle in Hueco Mundo. It's been a while now, but we've got most of the Arrancar that were created under Aizen all united. The annoying thing is the Menos and Huge Hollows are becoming more powerful every day, and they're making the transition to Adjucha more frequently than before. It's become a real pain to keep them under control even though they spend most of their time trying to eat each other anyways." As much as she had confidence in her statement, she still groaned.

"Nothing we can't handle, but I've had to keep my eye out to see if any do actually manage to make it to the final stage. I don't think they know how though. If they figure out how to remove their masks, then we'll be in more trouble."

"Seems like you two have been busy," Yoruichi pondered aloud.

"Yeah, between taking care of Hueco Mundo, raising three kids, and making sure we still keep up appearances for Soul Society; we've been pretty busy," Tatsuki answered as she relaxed into her husband's side.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Urahara replied cheekily.

They didn't know about the other person listening in though.

………

Kaien awoke groggily, the only process he was capable of trying to place where he was. The roof above him looked familiar, and upon closer examination he finally realized that he was in a house he knew all too well: Kin's house. Memories of both the welcome and the unwanted shot back to him like a bullet, and he launched his upper body up in surprise and fear. It came as a huge shock then when he looked down at his stomach he saw no wounds, not even a scar.

_A dream?_ He thought confusedly. He knew that couldn't be the case though. He hadn't slept at Kin's the night before, and he would remember if he did something other than their regular fighting.

Paling, the other memories—those of before the Hollow attack—came flooding back to him in a wave of humiliation and guilt. He swallowed heavily. He didn't deserve to be her friend anymore, he didn't even know why he had reacted like that. Before, all he would have done was jump off her and rub his mouth, but for some inexplicable reason he leaned forward and made the light peck an actual kiss. Groaning lowly, the Kurosaki child pillowed his face in his hands. This was the last thing he needed.

Regardless, the memory of her injury made him look around the room just to make sure she was okay. She had to be okay, then at least he would be able to live with himself. _Why didn't that monster finish us off?_ The vision of the orange-haired man in black with the white haori and giant sword in hand came back unexpectedly, along with his mother's face. _What's going on here?_

Throwing off his desire to dwell on the matter, he soon found Kin resting on a futon not too far from his own. With a grunt of objection from the wear on what he now knew were still _healing_ muscles, he made his way over to her sleeping form. Her mocha-colored skin looked as healthy as ever but her beautiful platinum-blonde hair still had remnants of blood in it; though there was no wound to be seen anywhere on her head anymore. The sight of the blood was perfect proof to him that he had experienced reality, not any kind of dream.

He wanted to reach forward and touch her, just to make sure she was still alive, but as soon as his fingers were in reach of her skin he hesitated. His heart was telling him something about the girl in front of him, but he didn't want to listen to it. It had never bothered him much before, but now that his body was able to respond as well he couldn't refute it. Too many things could go wrong if they were to enter a relationship, most prominently the fear of rejection or worse, total excommunication. That, he wouldn't be able to handle.

He would much rather have her as a friend than try to go beyond that and have the potential to destroy that friendship. She was the one person he'd known for what seemed like forever, and losing her was something he wouldn't risk anything on. Especially not his heart. Even if it was hers already.

_Why did I have to wait until now to see her as a girl!? Dammit…_

He beat the side of his head, suddenly heartsick at the turn his thoughts had taken. There were other thoughts there as well, and they were much less friendly. The sight of her blood staining her hair was something he never wanted to see again, and yet he had been able to do nothing. _Nothing._ He was strong, he knew that, but they had just had an encounter with something that wasn't even _human_, and he had stood no chance against it! He curled his fingers into tight fists, enraged more the longer he lingered on the thought. If only he had given in to that desire, maybe…

The thought of where that desire had come from in the first place was set aside for later examination.

_Never again. I won't let her get hurt by those things ever again!!_

That was when he heard voices from between the thin wall, and when he walked over and shuffled the door open just enough to hear inside, his eyes widened. The people inside were definitely his parents, but they looked younger, much younger. That, and their clothes matched those strange visitors' that he used to see all the time.

As the conversation went on his eyes continued to widen, until by the end he could barely breathe anymore. Another thing was coursing through him now: excitement. He knew why his family was different now; maybe not all the details, but he was sure those would soon be explained to him. The only thought he managed to zero in on with complete certainty was just one word of their conversation: training. If he trained under their tutelage, in a realm he had never even heard of, he was sure he was going to get stronger. He may not allow himself to be with Kin, but he was going to make for damn sure he was always her protector and friend. No matter how long it took.

That was when he saw his father's eyes lock onto his.

"Come on out Kaien, your mother and I have a few things to tell you…"

The last thing he saw was Urahara's cane flying towards his head, and after that, he was plunged into a whole new world; one he belonged in before he was even aware of its existence.

The spiritual realm.

The four adults slowly stepped forward to see the unconscious form before them, and when they did, four breaths were caught in four throats.

On the floor was Kaien, but he wasn't in a shihakushou.

Four sets of stunned eyes viewed the white hakama, identical to their counterparts on the standard Shihakushou were it not for the color. They were matched by a white jacket more suited to that of the Espada than a Shinigami; almost an amalgamation of his father's Bankai longcoat and the Sexta Espada's infamous jacket. Like his father's Bankai it was connected at the middle of his chest, but like that of Grimmjow's the sleeves were rolled up. The difference was in the size of the jacket itself, unlike both Tensa Zangetsu, which was long and flowing, and the sixth Espada, which resembled more of a midriff cut. With the already impressive definition of his body the covering clung to his form perfectly, revealing only the sliver of flesh leading up to his neck before it broke off into the black lapels. They could only imagine what it would look like when he grew older.

If only that had been it. Though the clothing should have been warning enough, that wasn't what had their attention. Peeking out from above the jacket's connecting parts was a strange blot of darkness, and the area under seemed eerily void of solid mass. All the signs were there; none of them wanted to admit it. With a heavy inhalation, Tatsuki knew what she had to do. Unstrapping the middle of the jacket to get a better view of his chest, their suspicions were confirmed.

Exactly where Ichigo's had been…right in the middle of his chest…

…was a Hollow's hole.

And the other thing he should have had, his zanpakutou, was nowhere to be seen.

"This…is going to be interesting…" Ichigo sighed amusedly as he crossed his arms over his chest before turning to his old mentors. "I'm sorry Hat-and-Clogs, Yoruichi, but I think my family'll be staying in Hueco Mundo for a while. If Tsukiyomi and Masaki are the same, then we don't know what kind of powers they'll have. I can't have Soul Society finding out about this until we have a grasp on everything that could be going on, or could go on in them."

He paused, and his eyes looked down to the floor sullenly. "Tell Kin we're sorry. If he really wants to we'll come back for him to say goodbye to her. They'll see each other again, but I don't know when…"

It was obvious he didn't want to do this, but the two ex-captains knew why it was necessary. As much as this was important, Yoruichi and Kisuki could only gulp as to what would happen later. It was their little girl's turn next, and she wasn't going to be happy to find Kaien gone.

"I know, Kurosaki-san. We'll try to keep things under control here for you. I assume you're taking the twins with you?"

Tatsuki nodded as she hefted her son's physical body onto her shoulder. "Yes. If this is what Kaien's spiritual body looks like, then the sooner we get them all trained the better. Since Karin and Ulquiorra are living in Hueco Mundo at least they'll have their daughter to play with."

Her husband chuckled. "Not to mention Chizuru and Grimmjow's daughter. That little blue-haired hell-raiser will get them up to par in no time!"

Yoruichi's eyes softened with worry. "If only souls grew as fast as humans. I'm sure Rukia would love it if her son could train with Kaien."

Her old student mimicked her look. "Yeah, I'm sure she would," he said softly. "But he's only a toddler now even though he's as old as Kaien. Tell them to come visit us though if they contact you," he requested.

Urahara tipped his hat to the couple as Ichigo picked up his unconscious son. "I'm leaving it to you to tell my daughter why you had to do this when you get back."

His face contorted in duress, but in a sincere way. "Believe me Urahara-san, if I could avoid this I would, but Soul Society wouldn't understand. Once we have everything organized and they're ready to take on the Menos' that keep popping up over here we'll come back. Right now this is the last place he needs to be."

With a wave of his hand the Garganta was opened, and the two looked at each other in alarm. They had no idea Ichigo had advanced that far.

"You know where we live, if Kin really wants to you can send her over!" Tatsuki called out through the hole.

And then they were gone.

………

And so began the tale of Kaien, the son of Ichigo and Tatsuki Kurosaki; and the story of Kin Urahara-Shihouin, the daughter of Soul Society's rebels: Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihouin. Stubbornness seemed destined to keep them apart, but fate works in mysterious ways and the future is never foreseeable; so as the two entered into the new world their parents had hidden from them, they had no idea what awaited them on the road ahead.

This is their story. A new window has been opened.

………

**Author's Notes:** Wow, I didn't know this story needed so much editing. I guess I've spent so much time rereading the later chapters I didn't realize the state I originally wrote the early chapters into. That's always the problem with improving as you continually write, eventually the earlier work becomes completely different than the later. I sincerely hope it was to your standards, I'm always trying to improve.

Well, here's the first chapter to the sequel! Reviews always appreciated! I'll give the same challenge I did last time: fifteen reviews and I'll instantly upload the next chapter!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	2. A Door Closed

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**A Door Closed**

**.**

Kaien awoke as though he had just been hit in the face with a load of bricks. Everything felt disorientated; off in a way that had been impossible previously. His mind was suddenly buzzing with sensory input, far more than it ever had before. The slightest of breezes that surrounded him felt like that of a whirlwind, and each footstep seemed to resonate in his ears like a booming speaker only an inch away from his ears. Gradually his eyelids finally flickered themselves open, and even though he could tell that it was completely dark, he could see even better than he had before. Of course, that was also when he realized he was being carried like a sack of potatoes over someone's shoulder.

"Huh…? Wha…what's going on?" he asked groggily as he tried to move out of the person's grip. Whoever it was stopped immediately and he was thankful for that, but that still didn't answer any of his questions. At long last, the person bent down until Kaien could stand by himself, but his legs weren't completely up to par yet. Even as he wobbled himself upright, the person held his shoulders to help him along. He was grateful for that at least, even if he had no idea why he had been carried in the first place.

"So, you're awake. How are you feeling?" He heard a woman's voice ask with obvious concern embedded in it.

Once he managed to turn himself to the source of the voice, he was able to make out his mother's face. Well, he guessed it to be his mother's face. She looked different, younger, and if he didn't know any better she was carrying _him_ over her shoulder even though he was pretty certain that he was standing right in front of her. In the black kimono she was in she looked a lot more intimidating than what he knew, and there was no doubt to the strength she had. _That_ was shown in her muscles, muscles he had somehow forgotten she had for some reason. The memories of what had happened before his blackout flooded back to him and he stumbled back from the seemingly physical blow, unconsciously putting a hand to his forehead to try and stop the instant headache.

"M-Mom? What's…going on here?"

"You had an encounter with a Hollow," another voice stated before his mother could answer him. He didn't even need to turn to know who had said that. He knew his father's voice instinctively. He turned to it anyway, and was almost struck into speechlessness by what he saw.

He knew his mother looked younger and more vibrant, but his father didn't look anything like his usual self. Even though age had barely taken its toll even as the years passed his body by, the person that was standing in front of him looked only a few years older than him, if that. He was much taller than him though, and with the form-fitting shihakushou made possible by the tight captain's robes, every individual muscle could be seen from underneath them. No signs of age marked his flesh at all, and the only indication that he had lived longer than his body suggested was the fact that his eyes seemed deeper, as if they held more wisdom, than anyone at that age possibly could. What stood out most prominently was the giant sword wrapped in cloth that was secured to his back.

"Are…are you really my parents?" the hopelessly confused teenager asked hesitantly.

Tatsuki chuckled. "Yes Honey, we're really your parents. We have a lot to tell you."

Even though all of his instincts were telling him that these were his parents, Kaien just couldn't wrap his mind around their sudden youthfulness. He backed away from them both while eyeing them carefully, much to their dismay.

"You…you can't be my parents!! My parents are old! My dad's a physician and my mom's a Karate instructor! You're not my parents!!!"

Tatsuki was losing patience, though she knew she should have expected something like this. Heck, it had been a lot for _her_ to wrap her mind around back in the day. "KAIEN RECCA KUROSAKI!!!!"

Exactly like the scolded child he was, Kaien shrunk back immediately at hearing all three of his names called at once. He may be growing, but he still wasn't up to his mother's height yet. He _was_ only thirteen after all. Therefore, when the younger version of his mother stomped over to him and glared down on him, all he could do was gulp. There was no doubt in his mind who this woman was now.

"Yes Mom?" He answered frightfully. She smiled down on him in response and ruffled his hair with the arm she wasn't using to support the body over her shoulder.

"That's a good man!"

Yes, these were definitely his parents.

"Now, about what we have to tell you. Let's walk as we talk, we need to drop off your body before Ichigo goes back for the girls."

Kaien gulped again. There were so many things that sounded wrong about that sentence it wasn't even funny. Besides the fact that an identical copy of him was being held over his mother's shoulder while he knew for a fact that he was right where he was, he didn't even know where they were to begin with.

He still hadn't looked at his own body yet.

He was in for some _biiiiiig_ surprises.

………

Kin Urahara awoke like a bullet as she shot upright into a sitting position with a startled cry. The last thing she remembered was running behind Kaien away from a huge Hollow, then everything went black. _Wait, Hollow?_

"Kaien!!" she shouted instantly as she searched the room she was in for her best friend. Her throat closed up and she felt consciousness start to elude her again when she found no one else in the room. _What happened? How am I still alive?? Where's Kaien?!_ So many thoughts were running through her genius mind so fast she knew she was at the beginning stages of a panic attack. _He couldn't be dead! He couldn't be!!_

Her chest was starting to constrict now, and the pain was making it hard to breathe. She clasped a hand between her developing breasts to try and forcefully stop the painful tightening that was the polar opposite of what Kaien had evoked from her, but to no avail. She wanted that other feeling back, that warmth and tingling that Kaien had made flow through her, not this. In an instant the door was slammed open and her mother jumped in like the worried parent she was, quickly kneeling down beside her to check her injuries and the current state she seemed to be in.

"Mom…Kaien…Kaien…!!" The worry was flooded through her voice and her deep golden eyes were watery with fear, and Yoruichi instantly knew what the problem was. She smiled softly and stroked her daughter's hair as she held the smaller body close to her.

"Kaien's fine, Kin. He's all right. Breathe baby, breathe," she soothed over and over again, and with each repetition Kin's breathing gradually returned to normal and she relaxed into her mother's arms.

Yoruichi had never planned on having children. After all, she wasn't one to be held down in one place for too long, but after she had Kin there wasn't a doubt in her mind where she truly belonged. Running around and exploring had always been what she thought her life was going to be about, what she wanted more than anything. She thought being free as a bird with no one to hold her down was what she wanted, but looking into the little eyes of what had been formed from the love she had tried to deny with Kisuke, she knew where her heart belonged. With them.

"Where is he?" Kin asked quietly. "He was bleeding really badly, he was only able to hold off the Hollow for a little while…. Where is he?"

Despite the fact that Yoruichi's eyes had widened when she heard the young boy had managed to hold off the Menos even for a short while, her heart stung when she thought of her daughter's last question. She knew all too well what was going to happen. Her encounter with Soi-Fong had engraved that in her, and it hurt her heart to have to be the one to break the news.

Luckily for her, what might-as-well be her husband entered the room. "We'll get to that, Kin. Before that, your mother and I have some explaining to do…"

It was hours before the explanation was finally done, and needless to say Kin was looking at her parents in a mixture of supreme shock and frightened awe. No wonder she and her friends had been able to see ghosts for so long.

"And Souken…Chad…?" she asked just to be certain.

Yoruichi nodded. "Yep. Uryuu's probably been training his kids for a while just to get them used to the new Quincy techniques he and Kisuke developed. Now that this has happened Chad will likely be going with his parents too, to start training whatever gift he might have inherited from them. A Shinigami and Arrancar's child isn't the only first that happened because of Ichigo's generation, a human and an Arrancar also wed and had kids. We've got no clue as to what your generation could bring to the spiritual realms," the purple-haired goddess explained before shaking her head in her palm.

"And Kaien? What about Kaien!?" Kin asked, nearly desperate by this point. All the new information had placated her momentarily, but now she was finally able to get back to the heart of the matter. She needed to know where her best friend had gone; what had happened to _him_.

The parents frowned at the topic that they had tried to avoid for as long as they could. Resigned, her father sighed. "You know now that his father became the Hougyoku as he tried to end the war with Aizen, and that item was sealed away for a reason. Not only that, but since then he also became the King of Hueco Mundo, and letting certain parts of Soul Society know about that is simply asking for another war.

"Because of the Hougyoku's abilities, we have no idea what kind of power young Kurosaki-san and his sisters might possess. However, just from looking at his spiritual form there is already something that implies he's different from anything we've ever seen. In an effort to protect his family from Soul Society, at least until everything is under control…" Urahara faltered in his words at his daughter's ever-increasing look of anxiety, and he pulled his hat over his eyes just so he didn't have to look at those intense golden orbs as he told her what she wanted to know. "…Kurosaki-san has taken his family to Hueco Mundo for the time being."

He watched in dismay as what he meant dawned on her and the bright light in her eyes that made them seem so exquisite gradually dimmed, until eventually the pale yellow irises filled with tears and she threw herself into her mother's stomach to cry.

Normally, Kisuke Urahara was the epitome of calmness, but this time even he found himself holding his cane in a white-knuckled grip as he fought off the urge to grind his teeth together. _I told you Kurosaki-san. You had better give my daughter a good explanation when you come back. There should be no reason for you to make my little girl cry!_

He shared a disheartened look with his lover while she continued to sit, holding her daughter and stroking her hair as the tears ran their course. She was obviously thinking the same thing he was. Their children had been together for years, and suddenly he just took his son away to Hueco Mundo. While obviously the best rational decision, there was still a bitterness there that came simply from the aftereffects.

"When…when will…I see him again…?" she asked through her sobs.

She knew he wasn't going to be coming back to say goodbye. She knew his pride, and while she had always thought of herself as one of the boys, with today's events over and done with she knew Kaien no longer thought of her as one of them. The transition had already been made, otherwise he wouldn't have kissed her back. He had been ashamed and embarrassed, that had been why he had run away in the first place, and she knew through a lifetime of experience that he held his friends' lives above his own no matter what the situation.

And he hadn't been able to protect her.

For him, that was like taking his pride and vaporizing it. He had spent his entire life training and playing with her and he took great pride in his ability, and yet he—just like her—had been completely defenseless against the Menos. As much as it hurt her to even think it, she knew he wasn't going to come back, at least not until he thought he was strong enough to protect her again. She had asked the question out of the blind hope that they had given a date for her to look forward to, anything to give her hope of seeing her best friend again.

Judging from her father's look however, she already knew the answer before he said it.

"It could be months," he began, "or it could be years. Kurosaki-san only said they would come back when they had their children's powers under control. Like you two, Tsukiyomi and Masaki had the same Kidou put over them, but now time seems to be of the essence before something like what happened to you two happens to them."

_Years._ The word bounced around in her mind with the damning finality of a judge's gavel. The person that had been the first to beat her, the person that had been the first to come over to her house, the person who had first kissed her, and now the person that had first aroused her, was now away from her. And she probably wouldn't see him for _years_. She wouldn't be able to tell him she understood what had happened; she wouldn't be able to tell him he had affected her too; she wouldn't be able to tell him _she loved him_. Not for _years_.

She broke down into tears again, and she wasn't completely ignorant of the fact that her mother was fighting off tears too.

"It's okay Honey. We're still here for you," she said as strongly as she could. Sadly that wasn't that strong at all anymore, and she ended up crying along with her daughter as she held her. The sheer pain her daughter was emanating was just too much for the young mother to handle. She had centuries of experience, yet nothing had prepared her for the bond that she felt with her daughter; it simply defied description.

There was nothing saying her daughter wouldn't be able to visit Kaien; after all, Kisuke was one of the few beings capable of opening a Garganta outside certain Shinigami. What made it hurt even more was she knew…she knew she wouldn't. The sting of betrayal, even if misunderstood, had consequences beyond the reach of conventional visits. She would bet a significant amount that even if Soi-Fong _had_ known where she was before their reunion at Soukyoku Hill, she wouldn't have sought her out until she was sure beyond any doubt that she was stronger than her. Hatred would make sure of that, and the scorned love that had once been in its place would make it all the stronger.

When the tears died down, Kin looked at her father with the fiercest look of determination he had ever seen since he had been training Ichigo. "Dad, train me. I don't care if I have to be home-schooled; just _train me_. I'm going to show Kaien that I can fight off Hollows just as well as he can when he comes back. I'm going to make him sorry he never said goodbye. I'm going to make him sorry _he left me behind_."

Yoruichi's heart constricted painfully. She had seen a look like that before. This was too much like what had happened between herself and Soi-Fong. Way, way too much like it. The line between Love and Hate was thin indeed, and she could only hope her daughter's feelings stayed in the former rather than going to the latter. She could already tell where she was headed however, and she grimaced in dismay.

_Damn you Ichigo. If you could only see what you've done._

The speed goddess prayed, then and there, that their eventual reunion would conclude like her and Soi-Fong's had.

………

Ichigo Kurosaki sneezed as he walked along the long bleak hallway with his wife and son. For some reason he felt a chill run down his spine, but he shrugged it off before he let it bother him. What better place to train than a place with limitless Hollows? It was going to be a bit harder for his girls, bearing in mind they were only nine years old. Since he didn't know how long it would take to get them all trained, and since a situation like what happened to Kaien was likely to happen to them if they stayed unknowing to their birthright, sooner was better than later.

Kaien hadn't said a word since he and Tatsuki had finished their stories, and he didn't quite know what to make of the way he was looking at the hole in his chest. It actually looked like he _wasn't_ surprised, and he just walked along with a hand resting over that hole as his eyes looked down at it sadly. Needless to say he had reacted quite dramatically to knowing what his parents really were, and that shock was only compounded when his parents had continued and told him about their mixed status between Hollow and Shinigami. After Ichigo's explanation about his soul-self's appearance, brought about because he himself was an item that's power was unimaginable, he seemed to realize just how special his birth was.

He still couldn't fully comprehend his father's power, and he still couldn't understand why he looked the way he did or why he didn't have a zanpakutou, but he knew why he had the hole in his chest. His parents had said the hole in a Hollow usually represented the fact that they had lost their heart. He knew for a fact he hadn't lost his heart; his conscience was as strong as ever and he felt no different now than he did before this development in his life. Yes, he knew he hadn't lost his heart.

He had given it away.

He had entrusted it to someone without him even knowing it. Well, that was a lie. He knew about it, he just hadn't wanted to admit it. Now there was no doubt. As much as he was dreading it, eventually he would have to go back and face Kin, but he swore to himself he wouldn't see her until he was strong enough to fight off anything that would threaten her. Only then would he allow himself to tell her what she had in her possession.

It was because of his introspective thinking that he didn't notice that the seemingly endless hallway was at last widening out into a room. That soon became obvious when he entered and the resulting force of the spiritual pressure being radiated from the beings in said room pushed down on him. He gasped in surprise and clutched his chest to try and breathe, but then he felt his father's hand on his shoulder and everything went back to normal. He could feel his father's strength flow into him to keep him upright and he was awed. He was having trouble _breathing_ yet his father wasn't in the least bit affected, in fact he could even support _two_ people with his power. Apparently his mother was the same way.

It was at that moment that the people in the room—all in various stages of Arrancarism—noticed the new arrivals, and it was as if existence held its breath for that moment.

"Hey guys! How's it going!?" Ichigo asked brightly as he slung an arm around his son's shoulders.

The bored and shocked looks on most of the Arrancars' faces instantly turned to that of excitement and suddenly he was surrounded by a throng of groupies—most of the female persuasion.

"Ichigo!!" Most of them called out happily, then they seemed to finally notice the younger look-alike under his arm. Their eyes widened considerably. They looked between the two in shock, until eventually it looked like their heads were going to fall off if they didn't stop exchanging looks so quickly. "K-Kaien!! You're finally here!!" They cried out excitedly.

Until then Kaien wasn't fully sure if he should believe his parent's story that they were the King and Queen of Hueco Mundo, the land where the monster that had attacked him and Kin had come from. He gulped silently. There was no doubt in his mind now. These people even knew his name! He saw the eyes on his face gradually take in his appearance, and when they saw the hole in his chest he saw their wide eyes grow even wider before they quickly turned to his father's face in bewilderment.

Ichigo merely shrugged. "Don't ask me, I have no idea either. Looks like I had some unexpected side-effects on him because of my…condition. We'll be training to find out what his abilities are right away, because he damn well just about died when that Menos caught a whiff of his reiatsu before we did. We'll be here for a while now, no more first of the month visitations for a while! I just need to go get Tsukiyomi and Masaki!"

The group around them seemed to squeal in glee in unison. "The girls too!?" One of them cried. "Finally, everyone's going to be here!"

"Let me guess," the orange-haired Vizard said in exasperation as he scratched the side of his head, "you're just happy someone else gets to play with Grimmjow's little carbon-copy hellion from now on?"

Kaien watched in interest as many of them looked away while whistling to try and draw attention away from themselves. He couldn't understand why they seemed so relieved. Uncle Grimmjow was the coolest, and some of the most fun he had ever had was when his little group had been able to play with Asuka. That instantly brought a pang of pain to his chest. Kin was a part of that group.

"D-Don't get me wrong!" one of them said. "Karin's kids usually keep her occupied! We're just glad you're finally here and not in Soul Society!"

At that Tatsuki laughed. "Don't worry about it! Chad…err…Sado and Halibel will probably be brining their kids over right away after they find out what happened to Kaien. And besides that, it won't be long until Yuzu and them come here either. In a few years their kids will reach this age too!"

There was two ways to respond to that. One: be thankful Yuzu and Jinta only had two children, and that one of them was exactly like her mother. Or two: be thankful Yuzu and Jinta _only_ had two children, and that the one that was exactly like his father _wasn't here._

Tatsuki seemed to notice the beads of sweat breaking out on their faces, and she scratched the back of her head embarrassedly. "Whoops, not much better is it?"

She received simultaneous nods of agreement from every Arrancar present. Normally something like that wouldn't be so bad, because silencing someone like the mischievous devil that was Yuzu's youngest son would usually take very little effort as a combined whole. However, when that mischievous devil just so happened to be the son of Yuzu _Kurosaki_, any chance of outside discipline happening was very small. They almost felt sorry for the little guy though. Though his mother would never raise her voice towards him, she could make _anyone_ feel bad with her big brown eyes and hurt disappointment that always carried in her voice whenever she was upset.

Hell, it even worked on beings that were part _Hollow_, what chance did a little boy have of defeating it?

In a word: none.

"Okee doke!" Ichigo exclaimed with a clap of his hands. "Let's go show him the throne room! After I've gotten the girls then we can start what I'm sure you've all been wanting ever since we got here…"

The eyes of every Arrancar present suddenly lit up with near sadistic glee. Even those not crowded around him and had chosen to stay where they were when their King arrived, quickly perked their heads up at those words.

Kaien couldn't get any more confused as to what they were all so excited about, but when his father and mother started moving again, down yet another hallway, he followed them wordlessly. It was slightly disconcerting that though he had never met any of these people, they certainly seemed to know him. Being engulfed in a crowd of partly-masked beings, most of them still extremely happy to see him, was almost too much for the young man. He was receiving playful punches to the shoulder, getting his hair ruffled, and all in all simply being welcomed like a long-lost family member. As perplexing as it was, he couldn't bring himself to hate it, or even dislike it.

This darkness, this white darkness of Hueco Mundo; in it, Kaien had never felt more at home.

Before he knew it he was in a giant room with an imposing square stand at the end, a simple chair atop its high peak. There was something different from the plain expanse Orihime had been introduced to on her first arrival here years ago, and that was that there was color. Everywhere. Though white and black dominated, there were other, brighter colors too, and in fact if one didn't know any better they wouldn't even think they had left the Living World once they entered this room.

There was one other thing different too. At the base of the giant marble block upon which the chair sat, there was a sword stand engraved dead-center into the base. Four shimmering swords were set in their place on the stand, from the longest at the top rail, which looked like an ordinary katana, down to the shortest at the bottom, which resembled more of a dagger with a katana's hilt.

Kaien had seen the swords everyone around him was wearing, and yet he didn't seem to have one. The blades before him were amazing, and no one seemed to protest when he walked over to the stand and gingerly picked one of them up. He didn't know why he chose that particular one, but his eyes hadn't been able to leave it. It was almost disconcertingly light in his hands, and the blue-clothed hilt was as soft as if it were new.

"What is this?" he asked in wonder as he ran his hand down the flat of the blade.

"That's a zanpakutou that lost its owner during the war with Aizen. Rukia wanted to take it back, but it was safer here, same with those other three," Ichigo explained softly as he looked down on the sword in his son's hands, the sword that belonged to his son's namesake.

Out of sheer curiosity, Kaien ran the blade in a small line down his left arm, just to test its cutting power. To his surprise, nothing happened. "What the…? This must be a pretty pathetic sword, it doesn't even cut!" he said confusedly.

He tried to ignore the way his pulse had quickened the moment the blade touched his flesh. Unlike normal, unlike even the fear it was supposed to invoke, this time that venomous urge that had assaulted him before hissed in outrage, practically screaming for him to throw the sword away. It was much stronger than it had been before too, now it was as if the very blood flowing through his veins had a will of its own, and it wanted nothing more than for him to never pick that blade up again.

His father had no idea what was going on inside his son's head, but he held the same surprise. It shouldn't have come as much of a shock given his outward appearance, but he couldn't help being slightly awed. With a look at one of the Arrancar's beside him, he gave a slight nod towards his son. The Arrancar nodded back before drawing her blade, and with absolutely no warning rushed the younger Kurosaki.

Time slowed. One moment he was wondering what on earth was going on inside his body, and the next the singing of steel as it was removed from its sheath had moved his attention elsewhere. The woman barely had any mask anywhere on her face, but the only thing his mind focused in on was the sword pointed straight at his chest. That quickening pulse of only moments earlier took to new heights, and now the urge within him was having nothing of his hesitation.

Before he could make a sound, before he could even understand what was happening, he felt blood fall from his eyelids. That instinct within him now screamed to protect itself, and like a puppet he felt his arm move with will not his own. It was the single most terrifying thing he had ever experienced; watching, helpless, as the world faded to black around him and something…something _else_ took over. He could feel it distinctly in those last moments of clarity, the realization that it really was his own blood rebelling against what should have been unshakable control. The last thing he saw before his vision died completely and the instinct took control was the widening eyes of the female approaching him.

The group surrounding them looked on in horror as the tears of blood raked down the young man's face unexpectedly, and no sooner had that happened had he grabbed the oncoming sword with his bare hand and shot the hilt back into his opponent's throat. Her strangled cry as the blunt end smashed into her esophagus was no sooner processed before a reiatsu more venomous than anything they had ever felt smashed into them, and there was no doubt where it was coming from. It was dark and cold, absolutely merciless, and as they looked on in paralyzed terror, they saw the body of their King's son throw his would-be attacker to the ground and hold her there. Something was happening to his skin, a change not quite completed, and apparently something had already happened to his eyes, if the look on the woman's face was anything to go by.

In hardly ten seconds the young man that knew nothing of his abilities, or swordplay at all, had bare-handedly disarmed an Arrancar who had been fighting longer than he had even been alive.

Petrified as they were, they could do nothing when they saw him lean down, inhaling her scent in hungrily. They knew that expression, it was one they had known as simple Hollows long before they had become Arrancar. It was _not_ good. It was _desire;_ it was _hunger_. Before the scene could progress further, which would have surely resulted in the young teen tearing the woman apart with his teeth, they witnessed their King appear before his son and smack him into one of the opposing walls. Though the thought was there that he should have been a bit more careful with his _son_, they soon saw that the only damage that had been done had been to the pale white wall. The body snarled viciously as it tried to clamber its way to its feet, all semblance of rationality gone.

Hoping it would have the same effect on his son as it did on regular Hollows, Ichigo let loose his reiatsu upon what had taken over his son. The body struggled, gnashing its teeth as it realized what was happening. Its own reiatsu tried to push against the offending power, but it stood no chance even with its impressive strength. With one final burst his son howled in rage before collapsing back to the floor, and as he crouched there panting on his hands and knees, Kaien Kurosaki trembled.

He heard the footsteps coming towards him, and dared look up to see his father's approaching form. He saw the crowd of Arrancars looking on at him in nothing short of awe, but he couldn't understand why. A glimmer of white stood out against the floor behind his oncoming parent, and with a start he realized that it was the woman that had been rushing him only seconds before. As he watched her get up he saw her look at him, and the fear was still fresh on her face. What was surprising was also the _respect_ he saw reflected in her eyes.

_What…what happened? Wh-What did I do? Why can't I remember!?_

"Can you stand, Kaien?"

Tears threatened his eyes as he once more looked up to his father, who was radiating nothing but concern for his son. With a tremulous nod he forced his muscles to obey his commands again, and upon realizing the moisture on his cheeks wiped his face. The sight of blood on the back of his hand caused him to cry out in alarm, and as he wiped the other side of his face he found his other hand in a similar state. "What…what on earth happened to me?"

At that Ichigo looked genuinely surprised. "You don't remember? Anything? A voice maybe? A presence other than your own? Anything?"

Taken aback, he shook his head. "N-No. Sh-Should I have? All I remember was feeling like…like my blood was boiling; like my body wasn't my own. I…I can't explain it…it was like every fiber of my body suddenly forced itself to act against my mind and then…nothing."

A heavy sigh this time. "Of course. It would be too easy if it was anything we'd dealt with before." The statement was all but _dripping_ sarcasm. "Here, you dropped this."

In his father's grip was the blue-hilted sword, and this time the protests from picking it up were even louder than they had been before. Suddenly terrified of his own blood, he did exactly what it didn't want him to do, and quickly snatched the sword. The urges quieted almost instantly, not completely gone but not as loud as they had been. It was then he realized something. _It…it doesn't like these swords everyone's carrying! Maybe I can use that!_

Hastily pressing the blade against his left arm once again, he closed his eyes and pushed, much harder than he had originally. Nothing happened. When he cautiously opened them again, imagine his shock when he saw the blade struggling against his forearm uselessly, and all that was there was bare skin.

"What on earth…?" he whispered in awe, the troubles of seconds ago entirely out of mind for the moment.

"Hierro," his father's voice answered. "Spanish for Steel Skin. Every Arrancar has it to protect themselves from standard zanpakutous, but I didn't know whether you would have it or not. Other than that blackout-inducing transformation of yours, it seems like this is the first thing we know about your powers that we can use. Shinigami can produce something similar by raising their reiatsu to a higher level than the attack approaching them, but it's much harder to do that then having a permanent state of Hierro, like on every Arrancar."

Curiosity piqued, with some fear now he pushed on the blade, and just like before, nothing happened. Excited now—and wanting to test his limits, like was in every adolescent's way of thinking because of that little genetic trait that makes them think they're invincible—Kaien grit his teeth and pushed as hard as he could, hoping beyond hope that something happened. He needed something to happen, something to quiet that insistent urge clawing its way against his once iron-clad control. Everything seemed fine…until he ran the blade down instead of simply pushing.

A small cut. That was all it made, a small cut, but the sword fell from his hand and onto the floor with a _clang_ as his resounding scream cut through the entire room. It wasn't even the physical pain that had caused him to scream. No, it was the torrent of emotions and memories that assaulted his mind the moment the blade cut into his flesh. He could feel his reiatsu strengthening and fluctuating, memorizing what it was that had only momentarily broke his skin. It wasn't his zanpakutou, thus he felt no spirit talk to him, but that wasn't to say he didn't hear anything.

It wasn't too long after that that he slumped over face-first, unconscious.

The last thought that went through Kaien's mind before he succumbed to the dark abyss of unconsciousness was this:

_Nice to meet you too…Nejibana…_

That had been five years ago.

………

**Author's Notes:** Well, I have to thank the few that did review very much! Your guys' enthusiasm was a huge boost! Doesn't seem like all the ones that read the first one have chosen to read the second one as well, at least that's what it seems like. I gotta be honest with you guys, that sucks. Because the hits on the first chapter seem to be so bad even though those that did review left amazing encouragement, I decided to upload the next chapter.

As a side note: yes, I know Japanese don't usually have middle names, but I thought it was a nice moment of parental authority that everyone would understand. I'm sure you can forgive me.

Well, tell me what you think please!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	3. Interlude

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS LEMON! MOSTLY PWP; IF YOU **_**DO**_** DECIDE TO READ IT, PLEASE, I IMPLORE YOU, READ RIGHT TO THE END. SEE YOU AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER!**

**.**

**Interlude: This Wasn't In The Job Description**

.

There were certain things she had expected after deciding—against her better judgment—to become what she had become. Throwing her normal life away wasn't really that hard, considering her life had been anything but normal, to those around her anyways. Watching her parents mourn had been something that had severely dampened the excitement of what was to come, but she knew she'd see them again eventually. The second she had met her one person she knew her life was destined for greater things, even if it happened to be her afterlife. To those that had known her they probably wouldn't even recognize her now. The sword at her side had become a natural accessory, as natural as the purse she would have worn had she been walking around a mall.

That wasn't the case this time.

No, this time, she was running for her life. Her reiatsu was strong, and though training had been harder than she ever expected, it wasn't really _that_ hard. That was only natural she supposed, being that she had been around _him_ for quite an amount of time before she finally made the fateful decision. Of course, certain parties weren't very happy about the time factor involved, but there would be eternity to forget about that little detail after it was done.

What she wouldn't give to be back in that situation.

Retaining all of her memories from her life thanks to a special circumstance—that of being personally escorted to Soul Society by a captain of the Thirteen Squads himself—she was still amazed that she could move so fast with only the simplest usage of this strange thing every Shinigami had: reiatsu. Or as the case may be simplified further: reiryoku. She never was able to get over the thrill of moving at such incredible speeds, but right now she was cursing herself for not being able to move faster.

She had expected this sometime along her life, but for some reason she had never actually thought it would happen to her, as naïve as that sounds.

She was currently running for her life away from a being with a broken Hollow mask, an Arrancar. Her personality rarely allowed her to back down from a fight, and her courage and stubbornness usually allowed her to win, but this time retreat had become a necessity after witnessing his blatantly superior power. It was not to be that simple, as life rarely is, and she soon found herself pursued by her assailant and through the skies and surroundings of the night-laden town.

She was a blur barely trackable in the streetlights, but she was not so hopeful to think that the small static shifts of the air behind her were that of the wind. He was hot on her trail, and she was running low on strength. She prided herself on her endurance—especially in certain activities that usually involved a lack of a certain black kimono—but even she was feeling a strain after running for so long. She didn't know her fatigue was causing her to slow down, but that became very noticeable when she felt a body press to her back and suddenly she was face first again a brick wall. He had apparently thought it through very well too, as the dimly lit alley would be nigh impossible to spot anyone in, even if they _did_ have spiritual awareness.

A smooth chin brushed her neck as the man behind her nuzzled his head against her neck tauntingly, and she shivered when his tongue stretched out and lazily gave a light lick to the flesh of her jaw. In the position he had her in it was impossible to move or fight back, and any squirming rubbed her against a place she didn't even want to think about, as she found out rather quickly. He was using his _whole_ body to pin her, and though he wasn't using enough force to scrape her skin into the wall, within a second he _could_, and she didn't really want to experience that anytime soon.

She was completely at his mercy, and as she knew very well, mercy was something not a whole lot of Arrancar's had a concept of.

"You led me on quite the little chase there, woman," the deep voice spewed sardonically from behind her, and she felt that much-rather-forgotten piece of anatomy press into her backside.

She gulped silently and tried to ignore the beads of sweat falling from her brow, but she was sure every action was caught by the man behind her, no matter how hidden they may be. She knew she had little chance of escaping, and nearly all her strength was gone for fighting, but she wasn't about to go down without fighting back. Hell, normally she would _love_ this kind of situation, encouraged it even! She wasn't about to let one of her favorite fantasies be ruined. Trying to get just the littlest of leeway against the wall as inconspicuously as she could, she put all her effort into lunging her elbow backwards and hopefully right into the area it would hurt him the most. He _was_ significantly taller than her after all.

That hope was dashed and crushed into a million pieces when he caught her elbow in his unoccupied hand like he had seen it coming a mile away.

"Still have enough spunk left to fight? Impressive, Shinigami."

Trying to fight off the other offending hand as it wound its way around her stomach and up to her clothed bosom; it was just as futile as before. What was even more humiliating was when his hand rubbed ever so slowly over her breast and pinched the nipple hardening against her will, her body responded even though her mind didn't want it to. She shivered again at the jolt sent to her core as she was pinned again as his other hand went to work on her other breast, worrying it into the same state as its twin. She gasped and tried to fight off the admittedly pleasurable feelings even though she knew she should be feeling violated. _Should_ be.

"Don't…" she whimpered helplessly, something of which she thought she would never do.

She could practically _feel_ the smirk of the man behind her. Ever so slowly she felt the soft caress of his mouth on her neck as it worked its way down, moving away the offending material of her shihakushou until her entire shoulder was exposed to his mouth.

"Don't what? I'm just getting a little more fun out of this, Shinigami. Don't tell me you're not enjoying it?"

She bucked against the wall when his hand glided off her breast and down her hakama easily, and with no hesitation whatsoever pushed a finger into her embarrassingly wet core.

"Don't…" she pleaded again. _What_ she was pleading against, she didn't know. If he kept moving his finger like that…

Once again, she felt the smile against her skin, the sick, wicked smile of a beast unhindered by such petty things as inhibitions and mercy.

"Don't what? You're so wet already…"

She whimpered this time when another finger was added, and even she couldn't deny the magnificent molten heat that was coursing through her body even against every ounce of willpower that told it to stop. This was a beast, something that had tried to kill her and was now violating her, it was not something to feel pleasure from.

But it felt so _good._

Her resolve was failing fast and he seemed to sense this, for soon after her obi had been untied and her hakama pooled around her ankles as her underwear was simply torn from her body. Without the obi and hakama, the haori of her shihakushou lay loosely around her but thankfully, still on her. Even that wasn't really a blessing, for her scarcely-clothed breasts were open to full view because of the loose state of what once covered her. That was soon to be rectified, and it was only moments after her pants fell to the ground that she felt him tear the bindings covering her breasts away. Now nothing prevented the contact between his hands and her skin other than the loose jacket, but what it covered he wasn't really interested in.

A moan escaped her as she felt him grind against her, but she quickly shook her head and tried to deny that that sound had ever escaped her mouth. She had no intention of letting him know she could enjoy it, it would only be a matter of time before he would be hers as well. Her long hair dangled over her face and she hoped to use it as a cover for her eyes, but even that was taken away from her with a disconcertingly gentle swipe of his hand over her face. Taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him, only then did he push his face forward and devour her lips.

The finger in her core, the hand now back on her chest, and the rough and pure testosterone of the male behind her had her mind quickly losing any semblance of rational thought. It was because of that that she didn't feel his hand leaving only momentarily before his pants too fell to the ground. Thus she was completely unprepared, though definitely not unready, for the feeling that suddenly shot through her body when he thrust into her fully in one clean stroke from behind.

She had been so ready for him it was humiliating, and the bliss was making her muscles tremble in delight—though she knew she should be wanting to vomit. Another moan, and this time she couldn't deny it, nor the many others that gladly joined that one. Both of their breaths were becoming heavy, and sweat was making her skin glow in the semi-lit portion of the alley illuminated only by the moon and a solitary lamppost.

The need inside her was growing, becoming more insistent by the second and it was pushing her towards a peak she knew all too well. Just when she thought the humiliation would never end, she was wrong. She was going to climax. It wasn't going to be a small one either. Had he been rough and uncaring there would have been no way for her body to respond the way it was to him, but he had been anything but, and her body responded to him of its own accord even though she attempted anything possible to keep it from doing exactly that. It was too much like her damn fantasy to deny it anymore.

Eventually it seemed to be too irritating for him too, and with no warning he had withdrawn from her. Twisting her around was nothing to his strength, and with barely restrained lust he lifted her off the ground. Finally, finally he could pound into her, press her back fully against the wall and bruise those sensual lips of hers with his own in abandon as her resistance failed completely.

"You like it, don't you?" he asked tauntingly as his own sweat started trailing down his skin, but he was in too much pleasure to care. It was getting harder to keep control, but then again from the moment she ran from him it was pretty difficult to restrain his excitement.

"Oh god…oh god yes…" she tried to scream, but she was too breathless to be able to.

Just like her, he too was finding release all too near and was almost surprised by the amount of pleasure he was gaining from this act. She was so tight and warm around him he almost lost it the moment he penetrated her, and those feelings only became more pronounced when she started moaning and squirming against him, this time in search of greater friction. Now he was able to thrust into her with his full strength behind it, and he noted offhandedly that thanks to her shihakushou's haori she wasn't scraping her bare back against the cold brick wall.

He was losing feeling in his limbs, and the only thing he could feel were her lips and her sex as he drove them together with exponentially growing force as time went on.

Her hands sought out his face and one massaged the bone-like mask piece somehow connected to his body as the other rubbed the other side of his face life a cat, gradually trailing up his jaw and to his ear, where it chose to rub softly. He couldn't resist the purr that rumbled deep in his chest as his thrusts became more erratic, and her long soft hair fell around them both in waves as she kissed her way down his jaw to his neck, and her hand never strayed from his hair and ear.

"Don't stop…oh god please don't stop…" she moaned this time.

From this position his rough pubic hair ground mercilessly against her clit, and he made it his mission to have as much bodily contact as possible, teasing each and every nerve that could even have the slightest chance of raising their pleasure higher than it already was. Their muscles were in spasms and their breaths were labored pants that hung in the air just from the sheer heat their bodies were generating, but it was heaven. Their minds had long shut down and now there was only one thing going through them other than the bliss of their heated joining: completion. Nothing else mattered, not even the game, just that. Just _this,_ just _them._

They were both so close, he knew it and so did she. So as the burning fire within them exploded into a cataclysmic inferno, they both cried out as their orgasms ripped through them with the finesse of a wrecking ball.

As they stayed there panting, her long red hair caught the light as it fell over her and onto his shoulders, and the Arrancar smiled over at his lover mischievously.

"I told you you wouldn't be able to keep up that act all the way," Grimmjow teased with amusement written all over his voice.

Chizuru wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her shihakushou and smiled back at the neon-blue haired male she had fallen in love with. "Acting wasn't exactly in the job description…now was it? I decided to become a Shinigami so we could always be together…not so that I could hit Broadway," she answered back weakly between breaths, still reeling from the aftershocks of her climax _and_ still acutely aware of the fact that he had yet to pull out of her. Not that she minded of course.

"I guess it's my turn next time?" he queried roguishly as he held her hips possessively and snuck down to kiss her once more, delaying the answer he knew was coming.

Chizuru moaned appreciatively as she licked her lips when he pulled away and she smiled. "You better believe it. You better run, Espada; this Shinigami is going to get you and get you _good_."

He smiled again. "Only when I'm done with you, woman. Only then."

Her squeal of delight when he restarted their favorite activity echoed into the night.

………

**Author's Notes:** Had you worried there for a while didn't I? I tried to leave enough hints through it to keep you wondering if it was real or not. The very idea of N/C makes me sick to my stomach, but the idea came after I thought of what to do with their intimacy, and it just struck me as a Grimmjow/Chizuru thing that made some weird kind of sense in my strange mind, LOL! Since this was an interlude I wrote just for fun in the five year interval and has nothing to do with the main characters of this little production, I'll be nice. Eight! Count 'em EIGHT reviews will get you the next chapter immediately! By the way, I don't know about you guys, but I like the 3/4 setting on reading stories here best, the full view kinda ruins the paragraph effect. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Thank you to those that reviewed! You're the reason I keep uploading this! (I was wondering where you went DJ, nice to see you back.)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	4. Intersecting Pathways

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**Intersecting Pathways**

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Yoruichi Shihouin sighed impatiently as her lover made the final adjustments to his latest request. After too long, after far _far_ too long, she had finally seen her Bankai pupil again. He had unexpectedly appeared out from the Garganta a week ago and after checking to make sure Kin was nowhere in sight, he brought out his and his wife's bodies and asked the shopkeeper for a very unusual request. Come to think of it, it wasn't that strange, but she had never thought about it before.

Ichigo had asked if Urahara could convert their human bodies into mostly ageless gigai material. Quite apparently he was getting sick of the state of his body when his soul was much more comfortable. His joints got tired faster, as did his body in general, and so the decision had become clear after so long. There wouldn't be too much explaining to do to the people he met on a regular basis as a doctor because he barely showed his age at all, and it only made sense that eventually they would have to separate themselves from the populace later on in their lives. Though that was important, it was nothing compared to what else he had said. He had also promised that they would be back soon.

_All_ of them.

Yoruichi's stomach still did flips when she remembered that. The only condition Ichigo had set was they couldn't tell their daughter about this, and they had grudgingly agreed. What Ichigo didn't know was they probably wouldn't have told her even if he _hadn't_ asked them to. They didn't want to be the ones to break the news to her.

Ichigo still owed their little girl an explanation.

Still, it was nice to be able to look upon her old student's face again, even if it was his soulless husk. It was still a damn good-looking soulless husk. Now that her lover should-be-husband had finished the modifications, the nearly forty year old Ichigo looked twenty again, and if everything went like it should, he would stay that way for life. There was one other upside; since Ichigo wasn't there, she was fully allowed to look over the nude body as it was being modified.

She might have taken a few pictures, maybe for a certain association of women. _Maybe._

Okay, she did.

It was small recompense compared to what awaited them when they came back, or at least, _one_ of them. She shivered unconsciously. Her daughter had trained relentlessly for five whole years, and though she was sure Kaien had done the same, even _she_, the Goddess of Flash, hadn't been able to master Shunkou in that amount of time, nor anywhere near that age for that matter. Her daughter was a true genius in everything she did, and she had something driving her to strive for beyond perfection. There was another element that none of them had anticipated though when Kaien left, and _that_ was going to cause a whole lot of trouble.

All they could do now was wait, wait and pray that everything turned out all right.

………

Kaien looked over himself one last time before he readied to leave, and even he had to admit he hardly recognized himself. Time had been beyond kind to him, and though he now bore a wide assortment of scars, mostly situated on his left arm, he had made them less noticeable by having them tattooed over not unlike a certain red-haired captain. That was _only_ for his left arm though.

His black mop of a head of hair was easily slicked back in natural waves that left many bangs dangling over his face, and should he want to they could easily cover his eyes just like his father's. Dangling from the back of his head was a long braided strip of hair, covered by cloth to make it look like a simple ponytail, but having it look _simple_ was practically impossible. It reached his _feet_ after all. His bangs came in handy for their other usage, whenever he didn't want people to see the black markings identical to the blue ones of the Sexta Espada under his eyes; an unexpected side-effect from his particular special ability.

His yellow eyes were as disconcerting as ever, and since he had been in Hueco Mundo he had a hard time remembering when the last time it was that they hadn't been glowing. Since he was in his human body again, that only came when he wanted it to. He sighed heavily as he placed his hand on what had become an inhumanly toned chest, where thanks to his physical body, his Hollow hole could no longer be seen. He didn't like that. Without being able to see Kin, the only reminder he had of her was the hole in his chest, the hole where what she owned belonged.

"So you're going?" A soft voice asked quietly. It implied more than just his leaving however, and he easily picked up on it.

He nodded as he turned to the source of the voice, someone he knew very well. "I have to, Asuka. I promised myself I would only see her when I felt strong enough, that only then would I…" he trailed off again as his hand once more reached for his chest, something that had become a habitual practice to him over five years.

His other lifelong friend stepped out of the doorway sadly. Asuka Jaegerjaques was definitely not a little girl anymore.

Besides the spiritron-rich environment of Hueco Mundo, the abundant supply of Gillian and Adjucha made for a very good place to grow up for a second generation Arrancar-Shinigami child. Her florescent blue eyes had her father's tattoos under them and they were covered by long, thick neon blue eyelashes. Bright azure hair flowed down her head and back in waves that made each individual strand seem like it could be seen in vivid detail, just as sharp and seemingly deadly as her father's in his released state. Her high cheekbones and small nose she had inherited from her mother, but the smooth jaw-line and the near invisible bone-like covering over one side of it was definitely from her father. The white hakama did little justice to the strong, firm legs they were covering but thanks to the jacket rolled up in traditional Grimmjow style, her arms could at least be admired. Of course if one followed the track of those arms they would come to another aspect of her mother's heritage, a certain _giftedness_ that would have any mortal male drowning in a pool of their own saliva.

She was what every supermodel aspired to be but she had enough muscle and pride to make them look like stick-figures, which was what they were anyway. It was her personality that had simmered down over time, much to the delight of every Arrancar in Hueco Mundo. That didn't mean that they tried to get her mad of course. Her temper was _legendary._

She was also one of the few confidants Kaien had while living in the land of the Hollows.

"I know," she admitted sadly. Truthfully she never wanted this moment to come, and she had half a mind to rush over to him and _show_ him how she felt, but she knew enough about him to know that that would only hurt him more. "She's pretty lucky. I still can't believe how long it took you to figure that out though, we all knew it when you guys were eight!" she cajoled, but it lacked her usual luster. They all knew it, but that didn't make her _like_ it.

"I know," he replied just like she had. "I can finally make things right now."

"Considering your strength almost rivals your dad's I think that's a pretty safe assumption." She smiled this time, and at last it seemed like she was able to do one honestly. She wanted him to be happy, she really did. He deserved it. She had seen his arm before it had been tattooed after all.

His eyes softened towards her as she did everything but trace her foot over the ground in small circles like an embarrassed schoolgirl. He was naïve like his father, but not _that_ naïve. Without warning, he walked over and hugged her close to him, unembarrassed as her lithe, soft yet muscular form was pressed against him. Like most people, she only came up to his chin thanks to his superior height, but right then being placed so close to his beating heart was exactly where she wanted to be.

"Thank you for being there for me."

She felt tears burn the back of her eyes but she fought them off. Hollows didn't cry. Even though she knew that was a lie that was the only thing she could tell herself to keep her from doing it. Hesitantly she returned the embrace and sighed dreamily. For a few moments at least, she held his full attention. That was all she wanted. It would be hard, but she could let him go.

"You know…if she ever leaves you…there's always me," she implied impishly, and Kaien chuckled. He didn't know how much she meant it.

"You make that offer to any other male in the universe and I'd call them an idiot if they didn't take you up on that, but…"

She sighed sarcastically and punched his chest playfully. "I know I know, your heart belongs to someone else."

He smiled at her as he pulled away. "You know me too well, Asuka."

_But I want to know you more_, was what she thought, but what she said was, "Better than you know yourself! Now get back there, any more twiddling around here and she might forget about you!" His eyes clouded with worry, and she laughed. "Just kidding, just kidding! Now get going, I'll entertain myself bugging the Quincy for a bit!"

"Yeah, I'm sure Souken would just _hate_ that," Kaien mumbled under his breath. He gave her one last look. "Don't be a stranger!"

Asuka, who had finally managed to feel genuinely happy for her friend, quickly found that familiar burning sensation against her eyes. Kaien simply didn't know how much of an effect he had on her, and on Hueco Mundo in general. She had nothing to be ashamed of, but it should still be a _crime_ for him to be able to do that to so many people in so little time. She was able to gather up the rest of her resolve to answer him. It was all she had left. "You either!"

And just like that, the Garganta had been opened and he was gone.

Asuka walked over to his bed and sat down heavily, emotionally exhausted. His scent was all over his room, permeating every single nook and cranny, and she allowed herself a few minutes of simply breathing in his masculine essence before it became too stale. Even though he had been gone for only a few minutes, the room already seemed dull and lifeless compared to when he was in it. He may be an angsty teenager that sought her out for mutual comfort more often than not, but those weren't the traits that drew her to him, her and nearly every other female Arrancar for that matter.

His strength was what had granted him the title of Prince of the Hollow world, not his lineage, and that strength was always used to protect. Even if it was in mindless rage the underlying reason would always be because he failed to protect something. With that strength came his determination and commitment; he never left a job undone and when he swore himself to something then anyone could bet their _life_ on him following through. He never seemed to notice one other thing, and that one was he should be in prison for looking as good as he did.

His eyes had narrowed and thinned as he grew older and quite honestly they held a strong resemblance to the one who had first started the mass production of Arrancars: Sousuke Aizen. It didn't hurt that instead of the seemingly lifeless and merciless brown eyes of the deceased tyrant, the yellow eyes held by the new King's son were always glowing with warmth and whatever other emotion he wanted to convey, making for something that could gladly be watched all day.

She shivered in place. His smooth jet black hair could be done in almost any style but it also held the physical representation of one of his promises. The ponytail that many people would find weird or feminine symbolized the greatest promise to himself. He promised he wouldn't change one thing when he came to Hueco Mundo, and that one thing was he wasn't going to cut that one part of his hair until he saw _her_ again. Considering his six-foot-two frame, that the ponytail reached his feet was quite something to look at, _and_ to touch.

Already she was missing him. Looking down on her hands she could practically feel those silken strands between her fingers, the trust and calmness he radiated as he sat in front of her with his eyes closed, peacefully allowing her to braid his hair before it was covered. Considering there were still many Hollows—not too many Arrancar, but Hollows—that were resentful about a Shinigami King, that he would be so relaxed around her was placing his very life in her hands should she ever feel the desire to rid his shoulders of his head. She had been the one that had the privilege of helping him with that part of his hair. Most guys don't know how to braid after all. She _might_ have asked him if she could help…_maybe_…but she didn't have to because he came to her after it started getting too long for a simple band anymore.

She berated herself for acting all lovesick only moments after he left, but she knew why she was. It was because she knew he wasn't going to come back, at least not to her. Not in the same sense anymore.

"And Shinigami say Hollows can't fall in love…"

_That_ was when she allowed the tears to fall.

………

Kin Urahara-Shihouin dressed in probably the twentieth outfit she had tried on so far, and finally she found one she liked. Unfortunately, it was what she wore everyday, and that was what she had been trying to get away from for today.

_Oh well, _she thought,_ if they can't handle me as is, then they don't deserve me!_ Satisfied with her appearance, she walked out the door of her family's shop and down the road to where a person stood waiting for her.

The nameless man looked over her indiscreetly when she approached and his breath was taken away, even though she was wearing what she always did. Having not known her for long, he didn't really care. She was wearing tight spandex pants exactly like her mother's, as was her backless shirt, but that was unnoticeable because of the loose yellow jacket on open over it, identical to her mother's but for the color and the white diamonds lining the bottom, like that of her father's preferred jacket.

He held out his arm and with a bored expression, Kin took it and they walked off.

Yes, this was the one thing Kaien hadn't anticipated when he had left. He had a physical representation of the hole in his life, and even though Kin couldn't see hers, she had one just as large, if not larger. He made a void in her life when he left, and as soon as she was dating age, she tried to fill the void he had left. Her relationships lasted for a very short time after she found them boring or unskilled, but that was because she was trying to make them meet criteria even _she_ was unaware of.

Every male in front of her, she compared to Kaien, even though she didn't know it.

They either weren't as fast as him; weren't as strong as him; weren't as kind as him; weren't as funny as him; weren't as interesting as him; weren't as handsome as him, weren't as stubborn as him; weren't as smart as him; or the most important one of them all: they didn't make her feel the same way as when she had been with him.

Somewhere in her heart she still loved him with everything she had, but somewhere in her heart she might even hate him. She wanted someone, _anyone_ to make her forget him, and that was what she was looking for on every date she went on. It wasn't that hard for her, after all, all she had to do was twitch her pinky finger and she could have almost anyone of _either_ sex running to her every whim if she wanted, so finding a steady supply of guys to fill her time was child's play.

Most of her time had been spent training, but over the last year when the desire to fill that hole had become undeniable, she had decided to go back to school. It was a joke really, she knew everything they would be teaching, but since she hadn't taken the tests technically she didn't have her diploma. She needed to be around other people again, people her own age. Over four years she had nearly forgotten how most regular humans live, and it was a refreshing change of pace. As soon as she was home though, training started anew. She never stopped, she _wouldn't_ stop, not until her fists met the flesh of her former best friend again.

It was inevitable then that she would start dating as soon as she could. As long as they were handsome enough, she didn't really care. One had to eventually surprise her, that was what dating was all about after all. If they _tried_ anything however, she was all too happy to show them why she hadn't been in school for so long. So, once more on the arm of another man that had had the courage to ask her out, she left her family's shop.

As they were walking, she noticed that they were gradually going into territory she was unfamiliar with.

"So where are we going?" she asked warily. The young man smiled at her widely and she had to admit, he had a nice smile, one innocent, and well-meaning. She found herself smiling back before she knew it.

"I know this part of town is known for its baddies, but it's a little known fact that there happens to be a little restaurant down there that has better food then all the restaurants uptown. One my family just so happens to run," he explained calmly, but with a noticeable amount of audible pride.

"I see," she replied with a smile, "and what's good on the menu?"

He looked hurt, but it was all in exaggeration that could easily be seen. "What's good you say!? What _isn't_ good??"

She laughed. Maybe this time something really _would_ be different. He wasn't at all bad looking, but he wasn't very muscular, more like fit. His smile was contagious, and he was pretty funny from what she had seen. He seemed to treat her with respect as well, something too little of the men she went out with seemed to be capable of. Maybe it wasn't so bad of an idea that she decided to go back to public school for grade twelve.

So lost was she in their mindless chatter that she didn't notice the presence of the people sneaking up around them until it was too late. It was a street gang. The Shihouin heir rolled her golden eyes. _How cliché._

Well, at least her date had been honest, he _had_ said where they were going was along a route popularized for its known hangouts for hoodlums, but obviously it hadn't occurred to him that they could be approached like they had just been. They were surrounded by people that looked absolutely ridiculous in their oversized clothing and obvious 'gangster' attitude. Japanese people can pull off many looks convincingly, but when it came to this they were no better off than any North American Caucasian.

What _wasn't_ ridiculous were the very _real_ weapons in their hands.

She learned another thing about her date right then, and that was that he was affected very little by this kind of thing. Then again, growing up around them had to have its effects on people.

"Gi'me all yo' money!" the 'leader' shouted obnoxiously, the ever-irritating 'street' tone dominant in his voice.

Still, her date remained unfazed. "I don't carry any cash on me, and as you can see my date doesn't have any pockets."

They had no idea how many weapons she could have hidden on herself even with that apparent lack of pockets however. Nonetheless, he was promptly hit to the cement with the butt of the gun, out cold.

"Well that's too bad now ain't it!? Guess we'll take what we can get!" the leader sneered at the unconscious man.

And just like that, Kin found something she didn't like. He couldn't fight worth a damn, so that meant he wouldn't be any fun for _her_ to fight either. On the other hand, he had been courteous and kind so far, so she at least owed him a save from these jerks before she walked away.

"Get away from me," Kin hissed menacingly, but there was no response. Truthfully it had been more out of manners than anything else; she knew because of their superior numbers they thought they had the upper hand. That, and the thought that girls are weaker than boys. They were in for a rather nasty surprise.

"Like that'll happen!"

She was just about to show them what Shunpo could do to a human body, but she never got the chance.

"How about you do as the young lady says before I paint the concrete with your faces?" a deep bass voice threatened venomously from behind her.

The voice washed through her like fire, and she felt a shiver run down her spine for no apparent reason at all. That feeling, _that_ feeling had been what she missed; one she hadn't felt in such a _long_ time. She didn't recognize the voice though, and she couldn't feel any reiatsu either. All she knew was that this person, whoever he was, had a voice that could make her insiders fall over themselves. This was one part of the criteria that _none_ of her potential void-fillers had ever satisfied, and she was quickly figuring out ways to 'thank' the person behind her. She didn't dare move though, because she could practically _see_ the malicious intent of the person that had come to her 'rescue,' even though she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

Then the person walked in front of her, and she was struck stunned staring at his back. The fact that he towered over her by more than a full head's length was the first thing she noticed. Long ink black hair covered what she could see of his face, and a cloth-covered ponytail that almost reached the ground trailed not far behind him. The long-sleeved shirt he was wearing was pushed up over his right forearm, as was only natural for the weather she supposed, but the fact that his left wasn't pushed up as well did leave some doubts in her mind. The black covering suited his body amazingly well, even she could see that, revealing both menacingly taunt muscles and a surprisingly thin frame. His faded dark blue jeans were obviously worn, but they fit his figure perfectly.

She couldn't help but stare at him as she visibly looked him over; _this_ was someone that knew how to fight, she was sure of it. It was too bad she couldn't sense any reiatsu from him, she would have loved to try fighting him on a spiritual level. She noted offhandedly that there was something in his left hand, but she paid it no mind because it wasn't a weapon. It looked more like a flower.

"What'd you say!?" the leader yelled as he pointed his gun at the man angrily, clearly pissed someone would call his bluff so calmly.

The unknown rescuer turned to regard him, and for some reason the leader froze with wide, frightened eyes. "I said," the same voice reiterated, "that you had better step away from her before I wipe you all over this city block, or did I stutter?"

Again, Kin shivered unintentionally. His voice was deep as the ocean and smooth as silk, almost a low purr, getting across the threat in a suave manner that kept all of its potential danger. Not anything she had ever heard before compared to it, except maybe Chad's father's voice. _That_ had 'sexy Spanish novel reader' written all over it.

"Or…" the leader ground out, "…we off you here and now and then have some fun with the little piece of ass behind you?"

Kin felt the vein in her forehead throb angrily as she closed her eyes tightly to try and fight it off. She wanted to punch him so bad she…

The sickening sound of bones snapping forced her eyes open, and she saw that her rescuer had punched the man so hard in the chest his ribs had audibly broken for everyone to hear. As if on a delayed timer the force of the blow had soon slammed him into the nearest wall, where he slumped into welcome oblivion.

She stared. Whatever calmness the man had held before had been thrown away in less than a second, and he was hunched over nearly _growling_ at the man he had just forced into a painful unconsciousness. That, and no _human_ she knew had enough strength to send another person flying like he had just done.

"_Any_ of you call her that again and I swear on my grandmother's grave I'll kill you all! Do you morons understand that or should I simplify it further?" The tone of his voice said he meant every word.

The rest of the gang were gawking in fear of what had happened to their boss, but confident that it had been a fluke brought about by the element of surprise, and safe in the knowledge of the guns in their hands, they evidently thought he didn't stand a chance.

"Yeah right!" they all sneered, nearly in unison as they aimed their weapons.

"Look, you don't have to do this for me! I can take care of myself!" Kin shouted, for some reason _worried_ about this person she didn't even know. The man almost turned to regard her, but he stopped at the last second. She could still see the traces of his smile though.

"I know, but that wouldn't be proper etiquette now would it? I could do any number of things to these guys to have them running away for their mommies like the children they are, but I think that would be too flashy." He seemed to think about what he should say next, oblivious to the guns still held towards him. If she didn't know any better, she would have been sure she saw the air around him shift like static on a television as he stood there contemplating. "Oh, but I think in order for them to be any threat at all in the first place they might want to have these," he said at last. Without further ado, he dropped the things that had miraculously made their way into his unoccupied hand at some time she didn't know. Loud metallic _clangs_ were heard as the items hit the ground, and when everyone looked down to see what he had dropped, what should be on the ground but the clips to all the guns around him.

The gangsters quickly checked their weapons and to their utmost fear, they found that they had been rendered bullet-less.

"He's a monster!!" And just like that, they all ran off screaming, leaving their injured leader behind without a second thought.

Kin too was staring in awed fear. She was a master of Shunkou, a skill that required complete and utter mastery of Shunpo, and yet she hadn't even seen the man _move_. What was even more mind-boggling was she _still_ had yet to feel a speck of reiatsu from him. _Could he be _hiding_ it intentionally? That would be…amazing…._

The unconscious man at her side stirred with a slight grumble, and Kin knelt down beside him just to make sure he was alright, unknowing of the look of surprise that had come over her rescuer's face. Not like she had seen too much of it anyways.

"Kin, you alright?" the young man asked groggily as he rubbed the sore spot that was surely going to bruise the next day. Kin had to admit, she was touched. His first thought was of her safety. He had many redeeming attributes, just not what she wanted.

"What are you to her?" the man asked, with the same venom he had used against the gangsters.

"I'm her boyfriend, moron! You don't think I'm one of these gu—?" his words trailed off as he saw that none of the group in mention was around him, and the one that had attacked him was slumped over against a wall with a small amount of blood coming from his mouth.

The platinum-blonde young woman noticed with interest that the man that had saved them both took a step back from them like he had been physically punched in the face as his hand went to his chest. "Her…boyfriend…?" that insanely deep voice asked uncertainly.

Kin wanted to refute him, but as of then she _was_ still technically on a date with him, so it was the truth.

"Yeah, you have a problem with that?" the young man beside her seethed. She had to admit he could threaten very convincingly, but he was all bark and no bite, she had seen _that _first hand. It took a very special person to be able to resolve things through just words though, so the fact that he wasn't beaten up all the time meant he was very good at talking things through either diplomatically, or with threats without the use of violence to back them up. It wasn't what she wanted though.

When she looked back at her rescuer, she saw that under the bangs that covered the top half of his face, a solitary tear was falling down one of his cheeks. _He's…crying? Why?_

Wordlessly, the man put the object that had been in his hand at her feet, which was the most logical thing to do considering she was still knelt down beside her soon-to-be-ex boyfriend. She picked it up without looking at him and saw that she was right in her first assumption. It was a flower. Though it looked like a rose, it wasn't a regular one; it looked like it had been carved from some kind of quartz-like white stone.

"What are you doing?" the young man asked her, and only then did she realize that he couldn't see it. _Wait a minute! That means this is something spiritual! He _is_ hiding his reiatsu!_

Without answering the man beside her, she quickly called out to the other young man gradually walking away from them. "Wait! You haven't told me your name! Who are you!?"

The young man stopped short like he had been hit with a bullet, and slowly turned his head over to regard her out of the corner of his beautifully appealing eyelids—which had tattoos under them, as she was noticing for the first time since this was also the first time she had seen anything above his nose—where she could still see the streak of salty water glistening in the mid-afternoon sun. The bright yellow eyes that met hers were filled with sorrow and guilt, pain on the deepest emotional level possible. He had been too late. In some arrogant stroke of pride he thought she would always wait for him.

"I'm just a fool."

And before her very eyes, he disappeared.

Finally, everything clicked into place in the ingenious mind of Kin Urahara-Shihouin. The style of his black hair, the confident poise, the strength, the compulsive need to protect her, the reaction when she had been insulted; and most importantly, the one thing that set him apart from nearly everyone on the planet save only some Hollows and her mother and her: the disturbingly yellow eyes. He had changed more than she had ever imagined, and grown into a man that could easily have any woman he wanted.

Kaien.

His name echoed through her mind relentlessly as she stared at the space where he had just been only seconds before. "Kaien…" she whispered disbelievingly.

"Who?" her date asked, clueless.

Without her even knowing it, tears had gathered and were now falling from her eyes. "Kaien…Kaien…" It seemed to finally dawn on her that he had been right in front of her after five years and she had let him get away. Worse than that, she hadn't even recognized him, when there was no doubt in her mind he knew who she was. Then again, she never made any effort to hide her reiatsu, so he could probably tell from that alone. Practically in a panic now, her tear-streaked face looked all around her frantically, not wanting to admit that he was gone, _again_. He was gone again, and he had left thinking she had a boyfriend. Her breathing was rapidly becoming more shallow with every second that ticked by, and her heart was speeding to an unhealthy pace the more his name resounded throughout her stunned brain.

"KAIEN!!!!" She screamed, and after that she had dashed away, using Shunpo to the best of her ability, uncaring of the other teen she had just left behind. It didn't matter to her, she had to find him.

She had to.

There had been no choice that first time five years ago, he had been gone by the time she had awoken. He had been right in front of her, talking to her, protecting her, and she had done nothing when just like before, he disappeared from her life. She thought she was going to be filled with anger the moment she saw him again, filled with the urge that egged her on harder through all her years of training, but instead her heart burst into her throat and her knees seemed as reliable as silly-putty.

He hadn't changed. Even after all the years and the admittedly gorgeous physical changes, his personality hadn't changed at all. He still wanted to protect her. For some reason that cause, that which she knew was the whole motive for him leaving in the first place, she had forgotten. She got the distinct impression this time he was looking for something more too; she could see it in his eyes. His last memory of her wasn't them running away from a Menos, it was their first kiss.

She clutched the quartz-like rose to her rapidly-constricting chest as she made her tenth lap around the town before she burst through the doors of her home, surprising its two occupants, her parents.

"Kaien…Kaien…!!!" she coughed out as loud as she could, before succumbing at last to the panic attack that had arisen out of his disappearance.

As she left the land of the conscious, her last sight was of her parents rushing to her side.

The verdict was in.

She still loved him.

………

He had been stupid. He had been stupid, arrogant, and egotistical. She was beyond beautiful to him, so why, why on earth had he thought she would be single when he went back to see her after _five years?_ He had meant what he said, he was a fool. He pushed his hair back out of his eyes and it smoothed back over his head like it always did, going into something not unlike the late Sousuke Aizen's. His eyes burned with tears as he stalked the dead ground of Hueco Mundo, looking for any Menos or Hollow to kill.

She had turned into a beautiful woman, more so than he ever could have imagined even in all of the erotic fantasies that plagued his sleep. Her platinum-blonde hair had continued growing, and it was still held in the tall ponytail just her mother's, exactly how he remembered. Her face had thinned though and lost any traces of baby fat, being replaced by defined cheekbones and wide, sensual eyelids that showed off her golden cat-like eyes more than her younger self ever could. Her tight clothing showed off everything her heritage had given her and how much she had trained, and her jacket had accentuated her hair and eyes perfectly. She made no effort to hide her muscles, but she also flaunted her role as a woman with the tight top that showed off the perfectly formed bust that easily rivaled that of her mother. Her tapered hips went down to gymnast's legs and her petite shoulders went down to fighter's arms. She was still everything he had ever wanted and she had grown into a woman from someone he had never thought could be any more beautiful.

He had been proven so wrong.

Besides her looks, her personality was like a magnet, it always had been. Confident, protective, intelligent, and he sensed a bitterness he hadn't before, but that had been inconsequential to him at the time. Now it seemed all too prominent. He had lost her by going to train, and she had found someone else. He had never imagined seeing her with someone else would hurt so much; he wanted to be her protector, but more than that even he wanted to be her love.

Those were the thoughts running through his mind as he blasted Ceros at the monsters he had found, screams of pain tearing at his sore throat with each movement of his hands. He could barely see anymore that was how blinded he was by his tears, and his throat hurt so much he could barely speak, but finally when all his blasts died down and he was too tired to continue, he felt a warm set of arms embrace him just as he was falling to the ground.

He knew these arms. He had just been embraced by them a few hours earlier.

"Asuka…" he croaked out weakly as his tears overcame him, barely allowing him to make out her worried face. "She found…someone else…I…I lost her…" With that, his exhaustion forced him into unconsciousness, a sweet release from his assumed cruel reality.

Asuka Jaegerjaques looked down sorrowfully on the man in her arms, the powerful young man that held the title of Prince in Hueco Mundo, the person that had been reduced to crying like a hurt child, before she looked up at nothing in particular with a hateful glare.

Her temper wasn't legendary for nothing, and now it had a target.

………

**Author's Notes:** Could it really have gone any way else? Had he not run away instantly, it could have been much different, I know. Don't worry, the next chapter will get more into things. As for the explanation about his powers, it _will_ come, so please be patient. Let's just say I was original with my ideas.

Thank you to everyone that reviewed! I know technically I got up to eight reviews last night, but by the time I got home from work it was this morning and I was exhausted. As promised though, here's the next chapter! I'll go back to the fifteen review challenge this time just to put a bit more space between the uploads. If you really want it, it'll be yours though for the low low cost of fifteen reviews! LOL!!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. Where Hollows Fear To Tread

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**Where Hollows Fear To Tread**

**.**

While time moves forward elsewhere, it goes with reason that it keeps moving everywhere else as well. There had only been one other time in her life that she had ever felt the symptoms of a panic attack, and just like before it was for the same reason she currently found herself unconscious now. Kin Urahara-Shihouin awoke groggily, her thoughts scattered to every corner of her mind. She had never felt so disoriented before, even after she had woken up from the momentary coma that her mother had accidentally sent her into way back when with a punch above her previous self's ability to handle. As if the thought itself summoned her, she soon focused in on her mother kneeling beside her bedside.

She sighed sleepily and stretched her arms above her head, just like it was the beginning of a new day. "Mom, you're never gonna believe the dream I just had…"

She stopped short when her mother's eyes filled with sorrow and darted over to the side. Perplexed, Kin followed her gaze and what should she spy but a pale quartz-like rose, nestled carefully on her night table. Her sleepy eyes shot open in shock and she quickly found breath eluding her once again.

It had really happened. He had really come back.

He had really come back, only to find her on a date with someone else.

Kin's hand clutched like a claw to her chest, which was rapidly constricting again. "Oh god…oh god…oh god no…"

Her mother nodded sadly, and Kin's heart exploded. Not literally, but to her, that was what it felt like.

"He's in that place again right!? Hueco Mundo??? How do I get there!?!" She asked desperately. She had to make things right. She had to! She had thought she would have wanted to beat the living tar out of him, but the urge she had felt after finally realizing it was him—after he had protected her like he always did—had been the farthest thing from that. The way he looked at her before he vanished was like his heart had been torn from his chest and ground into dust underfoot right in front of his eyes. While there was a part of her that took twisted pleasure in that, all the rest of her wanted to do was run up to him, throw her arms around his neck and kiss him until neither of them could see straight.

He had excited her. Even though she hadn't even known it was him and he hadn't even tried to, his new masculine voice sent fire through her veins and renewed the throbbing between her legs she hadn't felt in years. She wanted him, she wanted _them_.

Realization struck her like a bag of hammers. She hadn't been able to have a steady boyfriend all those years before because she wanted _him_. She didn't want a replacement, she didn't want someone that came close; she wanted _him_. Remembering the way he looked at her before he disappeared however, made her want to cry at the irony of it all. When he had left the first time he had torn her heart out, and when he left the second time it was _his_ turn to feel that pain. Now once again her heart had been stung, and fresh hatred mingled with self-loathing brought renewed strength to her limbs.

Yoruichi was still pondering her daughter's question. "I…don't think that's the best idea right now…"

Kin had never looked at her parents in hatred before, but the look she gave her mother after that comment could have killed her five times over if glares held physical effects. "Fine!! I'll figure out a way there myself!!" Promptly grabbing her gikongan pill and swallowing it, she allowed her body to fall to the ground with a void personality as her true self was pulled from the now hollow shell.

In this form she didn't have the spandex pants of her real body, and instead she wore the traditional hakama of a Soul Reaper, nearly identical to the Stealth Ops. outfit Soi-Fong wore except for the yellow jacket she still wore over the backless shirt. Unlike her mother, Kin had a zanpakutou, and it was cradled between the cloths of her obi behind her waist. Yoruichi instantly dashed up to try and stop her, but that was when they felt one of the most malicious spiritual pressures they had ever sensed in Kin's lifetime push down on them with the full force of what was easily discerned to be anger behind it.

Though it was much, _much_ stronger than either of them remembered it to be, they both knew who's it was.

Paralyzed temporarily by the pressure, Kin had no way of reacting when Asuka Jaegerjaques' released form suddenly appeared before her and slapped her through a wall with no force withheld. Not about to let her respond, she quickly tackled the teen of equal height _through_ the chute that led to the underground training area hidden beneath the shop before smacking her down to the dusty ground located there.

As she knelt on her hands and knees and spat out blood from the force of the previous blow, Kin tried to focus her blurry eyes up on the form of her assailant as the sleek form stalked towards her with death incarnated burning in her insanely blue eyes.

Asuka had no Hollow hole anywhere on her body, a side-effect of being birthed by a Shinigami, but her zanpakutou released the same way any Arrancar's did. It changed her body into something nearly identical to her father's, using the same white, lined skin-like clothing. Her midriff was fully visible, since the upper part of her transformation started right under her bust line and flowed upwards like a shirt, following the track of her arms down to where her hands had changed into black paw-like appendages with sharp claws at the end of each feminine fingertip. The 'pants' of her animalistic self started directly at her hipbones and made their way down her legs, until they changed the shape of her feet too into their feline counterparts; exactly like her father's. _Unlike_ her father's however, whose tail started all the way at his neck and went down, hers only started at her tailbone and flicked behind her menacingly like it had a will of its own. Her ears had pointed and elongated, as had her eye tattoos, and the bone-like forehead protector was now visible too, along with very sharp, very _deadly_ looking teeth.

Before Kin could do so much as utter a protest, Asuka had delivered a harsh kick to her stomach that sent her flying into one of the nearest mountains, where she fell to the ground coughing even more than before.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HIM!?!?" the young woman screamed as she walked ever closer to the already battered body of the person who had earned her ire, uncaring that her reiatsu was filling the air around them and radiating for everyone to feel. She picked Kin up by the collar of her shirt and held her right in front of her face, where it would only take a little bite and her throat could be removed in one fell swoop.

She settled on sending another teeth-rattling backhand to the mocha-skinned teen's face.

"He went through hell for five years just for you!!! He forced his body to its absolute limits more times than I can remember just because he couldn't stand the thought of failing in front of you again!!! And what does he see when he comes back huh!? _WHAT!?!?_" Another backhand emphasized the end of each sentence, sending her foe's head back and forth like the recoil of a gun.

Kin hurt, in fact, she couldn't remember hurting more than this, both from the physical blows and the words being spewed at her hatefully even though they were nothing less than the truth. She knew that, she knew that because she knew Kaien. Finally, she seemed to regain motor control after losing all her wind and most of her lunch after the kick to the stomach, and she was able to grab the handle of her zanpakutou and bring it up at her opponent.

Asuka was forced to let go of her in order to smack the sword away from any vital points with her forearm, and as she glared at her old friend, she received a glare just as menacing back. Then she said the words that would sting the most. "You don't deserve him," she hissed lowly, and Kin's eyes went wide. "He left his heart with you when he left, you know, and when he came back he saw it trampled to the ground like a piece of unwanted trash!!"

"SHUT UP!!" Kin screamed, tears now streamed down her face as she swung her sword at her friend-turned-attacker. The tears weren't from the pain she was feeling from the blows that had been dealt to her, it was from the hurt honesty that radiated from each and every one of Asuka's words. She could tell that though she was angry, in that anger every word she was saying was the complete and honest truth. Those dealt more damage than any punch or kick ever could.

"What was I supposed to do!?! He left me without so much as a goodbye!! We had barely been apart since we were _four_ and he doesn't even tell me where he's going!! I had to find out from my parents!!!" Each sentence was punctuated by another angry slash of her sword, and with full use of Shunpo behind her actions it was only thanks to Asuka's greatly increased speed and feline flexibility that she was able to fend of the attacks undamaged. "At least Souken and Chad came to visit every once in a while after they started training, but he didn't come to see me once!!!"

The blue-eyed beauty caught the next slash in her hand like it was nothing more than a stick, her sharp teeth barred. With a malicious smirk that bled bloodlust, she yanked it—and thus the person it was held by—towards her until she was within punching distance. When she was, that was exactly what she did. She did so happily, forcefully, and mercilessly. Looking down angrily as her bronze-skinned foe stumbled backwards from the force of the blow, she reentered her fighting stance. "_You_ didn't come to see _him_ either!!" she retorted in fury, and took sick satisfaction in the way Kin's eyes continued to widen.

"I…I…"

"You _what?!?_" the blue-haired hybrid sneered. "Most of our group was in Hueco Mundo training but you didn't come _once_ to see _any_ of us!! In powers, out of all of us, he's the most special; you can't honestly tell me that you didn't feel him with you all this time!? He gave you his _heart_ dammit; we can all see that every time we look at him!! You couldn't give him the benefit of the doubt!? Hell, most of us in Hueco Mundo would give him our _souls_ if that would mean _any_ of us could replace you in his heart!"

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!" Kin cried, blinded by tears as she swung her blade towards the source of the voice ridiculing her for what she had thought she was justified in. It hit something solid, and stayed. Thinking Asuka had blocked yet another one of her strikes, she pulled back the blade and swung it back harder, too far gone to stop when she heard Asuka's suddenly frightened voice cry out,

"Kaien, don't do it!!!"

Her blade struck flesh, and sliced through in an easy downward slash; the sound of blood meeting her blade only emphasized by the pained _male_ grunt that came with it. Alarmed, Kin quickly wiped her puffy red eyes and saw Kaien rapidly degenerating into a quivering mass of flesh on the ground. Even though it was his left arm that was bleeding, both of his hands were instead on his head as he cried out and jerked about like a needle was being slowly and meticulously forced into his brain.

"What's happening to him!?" the Shihouin successor asked in fright as she watched her best friend and love-interest thrash around on the floor. Not even before her sentence was done had he stopped, and only his heavy panting could be heard as he laid motionless on the ground. It was his spiritual form though, she could tell that much, and when he rolled over to look at the sky she nearly cried out again just out of shock. It wasn't that his left arm was covered in thorny tattoos like Renji Abarai's, nor was it the white clothing where she had expected a shihakushou; no, it was the hole that went clear through his chest right dead center between his pectorals.

Asuka's words suddenly made startling sense.

He had given her his _heart._

She looked over at the other woman and saw her eyes were moist and sad as she looked down on their black-haired mutual friend. "He's different from us," she started as calmly as she was able, crouching down and offering a hand to the fallen man to help him get up. Kin watched as he took it gratefully and he stumbled as steadily as he could to his feet. "Should I continue or do you want to?" she asked Kaien concernedly.

Kaien shook his head as he put his hands on his knees. "You…do it. It'll just take me…a little longer…then I'll be fine…again."

Kin wondered how he could be 'fine' after taking a slash to the arm, but was surprised when she saw the bleeding beginning to stem, and the wound was already healing over into shallow scar tissue. Something else caught her eyes as she watched the indented scar continue its pace, and that was that now that she looked closer, everywhere there was a tattoo there was also a mark similar to the one she had just created, however much she didn't mean to. That was when she realized that his entire left arm was covered, completely _covered_, in scars. She could see the tattoos trailing their way under his jacket's rolled-up sleeve, and she didn't even want to _think_ of how many more resided under there.

"If he heals that fast, why does he have so many scars?"

At that Asuka sighed, clearly keeping herself calm in the face of a situation she no longer wanted to be in. "Kin, Kaien doesn't have a zanpakutou, he never has. It was only after he cut himself with one of the zanpakutous left in Hueco Mundo did any of us know why."

The chocolate-skinned young woman had never heard of a Soul Reaper not having a zanpakutou before. She had heard of them _leaving_ them, as in the case with her mother, but not _never having one_. "What do you mean?"

"Every mark on my arm…is from the first cut…I've gotten from a zanpakutou…I've never been cut with…before," Kaien wheezed as strongly as he could, and waved off to Asuka to continue.

"He doesn't have a zanpakutou because he _is_ a zanpakutou, or more accurately, a zanpakutou spirit. The Hougyoku was made as a device to break the barriers between a spiritual being; for example: granting the powers of a Hollow to a Shinigami. We don't know how, but Ichigo—being the Hougyoku—accidentally broke _every_ barrier in Kaien when he was conceived, or so he guesses. He doesn't even have an inner world; he _is_ his inner world. Every time a zanpakutou gets past his Hierro he instantly gains all the memories and abilities of that zanpakutou, essentially making a copy of it inside himself…"

………

Upstairs, Ichigo and Tatsuki were explaining the same thing to Urahara and Yoruichi. "…but as we know, when that first happens it's like being eaten from the inside out, or at least that's what he's told us. He's effectively helpless for a good couple of minutes after that, so if he hasn't prepared to take the strike by lowering the Hierro on his left arm and planning what to do in the aftermath, he could easily be killed. If he hasn't planned the first blow, the scar could be fatal."

………

"That's why he's trained so well in hiding his reiatsu, because after that first strike he only has a nanosecond to get as far away from his opponent as he can before he loses control. The _main_ reason is it helps keep his other nature in check, but the added bonus is if he runs away and they can't sense his reiatsu, then it gives him the time he needs to recover before they start fighting again. After that first cut it's no big deal," Asuka finished as Kaien let loose a sigh of relief and stretched, finally able to breath properly again.

Straightening himself up and rearranging the clothes that had been set askew by his thrashing, he turned his gaze back to the woman he never wanted to leave again. "That's quite a sword you've got there," he said sadly, still unable to look her in the eyes. The only reason he had come was to stop his friends from killing each other. He wouldn't be able to handle that. Turning away from Kin even though it was against what every cell in his body wanted to do, he grabbed Asuka's arm. "Come on Asuka, we should get going. I never asked you to do this."

"But…"

"That's a request from the Prince of Hueco Mundo," he added softly. With a sigh of resignation, Asuka resealed her zanpakutou and turned and followed him.

"Wait!!!" Kin screamed. She couldn't watch him walk away. Not again. It was almost funny, since her eyes hurt so much from crying she could hardly keep them open.

As if his body wouldn't listen to what his mind was telling it to do, Kaien stopped immediately. He couldn't face her now, not now, not after what he saw. Even being around her for the short time it took to get them to stop fighting was almost too much for him, and his eyes were already moist just from hearing her voice. He deserved every ounce of her hatred, and not one drop of her love. He knew that, but he still couldn't get his feet to move.

Stinging eyes burned in protest as she forced her pained retinas to once more draw light. That feeling in her heart, that all-consuming desire that had been wrought bloody and broken, growing and seething under Asuka's words, rose to unholy life when she saw even after his words, he had stopped just as she asked. Every emotion and its opposite rampaged through her with vengeance, directed not only at the man but also at herself.

At last able to look him over without concern for his well-being hampering her thoughts, her eyes widened when they were able to take in _him_. Golden eyes took in the white apparel covering him; a jacket wonderfully fitted to his body, which seemed to flare out down his legs as it made the seamless transition into his hakama. With both sleeves rolled up unlike the case had been earlier, she was able to marvel at the sharp tattoos weaving down his left arm, stopping in sleek points at his wrist.

Even then, the only thing that held her attention was his eyes, just like always. Those beautiful yellow orbs were literally shining with inner light, set in a face just as handsome as she remembered. What hurt, what really pained her was the way those peerless eyes looked dead, emotionless and melancholy at the same time in the brief second she had managed to catch a glimpse of his face.

"What?" he answered weakly, though his deep bass voice barely sounded affected, more like a sad echo than his usual speech. He couldn't make himself turn around though. He couldn't let her see him like this.

"Kaien, please, stay with me!" she cried desperately.

Kaien grit his teeth and with every scrap of willpower he could muster, he forced himself to restart walking away. His steps faltered when his hypersensitive ears heard his love's sobs start, and from the _thump_ he heard he guessed she had fallen to her knees.

"Please…stop…"

There was nothing else he could do. He had caused her so much pain, made her worry so much; he had done the absolute opposite of everything he had ever wanted to do, caused the very pain he had set out to protect her from. It was almost stupid how easy it was to go back to their past, where all they worried about was each other. He had seen it moments earlier, knew that somewhere inside there was still the same young teenager he had so selfishly left. There was something else there now, a bitterness and anger that she had every right to feel. He couldn't do much about it, but he could do something. He could let her move on.

Gathering up every reserve of his strength, he turned back around and faced her. Seeing her on her knees almost sent him to his own, and the urge to hold her was almost overwhelming. He couldn't; he didn't deserve to.

With a shuddering breath, he knew what he had to do. "Get up, Kin."

The authoritative command brought her head up like a shot, and she stared at him with confusion all over her distraught face. "Wh-What?"

He stared at her unblinkingly. "Get up. Are you seriously that weak? The Urahara I knew would have grabbed me by the collar and smashed me into the ground!" _I don't deserve your tears…I don't deserve your pleas. I don't deserve _you_._

It had the desired effect, and quickly enough the confusion had been replaced with the boiling rage he had seen lingering in the back of her eyes. "You…you self-righteous _prick…_"

Asuka was looking between them quizzically, far more than just confused at what was going on. There was no logical explanation for this; he was knowingly pushing the one he cared for more than his own life to… She sighed softly and stepped further away from them. _Yeah, that's just like Kaien all right._

"Honestly, what are you doing? What do you _want_ to do!?" _You don't deserve the pain I've given you. Let it out, give it to me. Go back to the girl I fell in love with…_

There was a blur of movement in front of him and suddenly his cheek exploded into pain as he was sent flying into the nearest cliff face. "What do I _want_ to do!? I've been training for _years_ to take you on! I've been training for years with the sole purpose of seeing you again!! I _won't_ let you walk away from me again!!"

_I won't. Never again._

Quickly regaining his composure, for the first time in five years Kaien Kurosaki and Kin Urahara-Shihouin began fighting. He was astounded at how she moved, how graceful she was in speed most other Shinigami couldn't even begin to dream of. Even in all that, for all their advanced skills, the fight soon took on the likeness of their former battles. No swords were drawn, only fists were flown.

He dodged what he could, staying within the bounds of regular Shunpo, but it was a halfhearted effort at best. He deserved to be hit, she deserved to be rid of the anger of which he was the sole cause. How such a small frame was able to house such enormous power was something only for the spiritual realms, and something that wasn't much of a surprise to him anymore. His lead Fraccion was much the same. Kin though, Kin delivered pain on every level with speed that even surprised _him_.

To the one watching on the sidelines, she couldn't help but see the resemblance to all those years ago. They were fighting, but this time there was real anger beneath the surface, real emotion being vented with every blow that wasn't evaded. Kaien's attacks were grabs at most, unintentional parries at worse; clearly unable to bring himself to hit her in the state she was in. It was a dance they had been doing almost all their lives, and it was unnerving to Asuka that even after five years they were still in such synch with each other. Were it not for the emotions plainly laid out on the bronze-skinned heiress' face, it could have very well been mistaken for a choreographed fight scene.

The grace in which they evaded each other's blows was something born only from years and years of painful experience, and the marks Kaien now wore despite his Hierro was proof enough what happened when a punch connected. Kin was acrobatic, fury in liquid form. It was all too easy for her to twist her body in mid-air when a punch was blocked to deliver a kick at his head, child's play to trap an arm between her feet and throw him to the ground before he flipped upright again.

Kin screamed, years of pent-up frustration, anxiety, and hatred incumbent in every strike. He was amazingly skilled, but in the far reaches of her mind she knew he wasn't giving it his all. Another scream ripped through her vocal chords as she smashed his face to the side with yet another bone-crushing blow. "Fight me dammit!! Don't just stand there!! Fight me!!"

With an incredible jump she wrapped her feet around his neck and put all of her power into moving him, sending him crashing into the ground below with a huge impact of dust as the earth gave way beneath her power. She landed hard with her knees on his chest, causing him to cough heavily before she twisted around and started hitting his chest. As they were, it was exactly an inverted position of most of the fights of their childhood; _her_ keeping _him_ pinned. The hits kept going, until eventually all she was doing was pounding softly on his chest, tears streaming down her face. "Fight…me…"

It hurt so much to see her as she was, far more than even the pain his body was in at the moment; watching her anger ebbing away by the second and leaving only the hurt little girl behind. He tried to keep his stoic face, but eventually the pain of his chest constricting around the hole in his torso became too much for him. His heart was breaking inside the one he loved as it tried to preserve her own breaking heart, he could feel it. When she whimpered those three damning words it felt like the hole in his chest was going to swallow him entirely.

"I love you…I love you…please…please don't leave me again…"

They were the words he longed to hear, but they couldn't be true. "Damn it, please don't do this to me, Kin…" he whispered hoarsely. "You already have someone; please stop, my heart can't take much more…"

It all struck her at once. What he had been doing, what he had seen; everything. Deciding she couldn't let his false assumptions go on any longer, Kin collapsed into his arms and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. She had watched him vanish from her life again just hours—maybe a day by now—before and she wasn't going to let him go again. Her fists were bloody and raw, but her heart felt warm for the first time in half a decade. "You idiot, he wasn't my boyfriend; he was just someone that I was hoping would make me feel like I did when _you_ were with me! You took my heart when you left and I had trouble doing anything without you! Please, please believe me. I love you, I always have."

Asuka knew when she wasn't needed anymore. With a smile of relief—and more than a bit of sadness that her one chance to have him was gone forever—that the two destined love's had finally found each other, she silently slipped away. Maybe Souken wanted some company. The bluish-black haired archer _had_ been acting a bit strangely around her lately, and right now she needed a shoulder to cry on.

Kaien drew his arms around her in an almost painful hug. "Please let this be real. Please, tell me this is real," he asked as his tears finally broke free of his gorgeous eyes' constraints. Suddenly his body didn't hurt so much anymore.

She didn't answer him, instead she pulled her head away from his nape and pressed her lips against his, their second kiss in five years. They both melted into the display of passion immediately, and without the pubescent awkwardness of their former years to hinder them they were able to make it more intense than they had before without shame of what the other would think.

This was the first time he had really tasted her, and this wasn't anything like their awkward first real kiss five years prior. He wanted more. Her lips tasted like the salt of her tears but they held her own unique taste too, a special mixture of estrogen and pure feminine essence that some carnal part of him recognized intuitively as _her. _He quickly found himself losing the better part of his rationale to it. He wanted more, he wanted more so badly it hurt. He tilted his head to gain better access and she granted it willingly, allowing him to plunder her mouth as greedily as he wanted to just as she did the same to him. He moved a hand to the back of her neck to try and force her nearer to him but he didn't need to, she eagerly scooted her way up his lap until she was as close as she could possibly be within the boundaries of clothes.

She tasted so good, and the longer they continued the more he felt his heart repair within her. He couldn't take it back, it belonged to her. Their tongues tangled and wrestled with each other sloppily because of their inexperience but that small detail was lost in their passion. It was their second _real _kiss and now their first French kiss. Every action was the desperate attempt to soothe the parts of their souls that had been damaged so heavily from being away from the other for so long, and the entwined hearts finally found their way back to each other after too long. When they finally pulled away, bruise-lipped and breathless, they could only sit on the dusty ground of the training area and lean their foreheads together as they panted for breath.

"Kin…I love you too. I always have and I always will."

He didn't get to say much more after that.

………

Ichigo and Tatsuki had come to the Urahara Shop after feeling Asuka's tremendous reiatsu in full released form. Ichigo was going to berate her for releasing in the Living World, where Soul Society could easily detect her if they wanted, but thankfully it only lasted for a short while before they felt it vanish, likely back to Hueco Mundo.

When Yoruichi told them what she knew of the situation, they had winced. There was definitely a reason for the anger in the reiatsu, and certainly a very good reason for her to release her zanpakutou. They knew her temper almost as well as her parents. Kaien too had come in response when he felt her reiatsu, but he had went down to deal with it himself and left his parents to talk with hers.

Curious as to why they hadn't come back up after Asuka's reiatsu disappeared—they even had enough time to finish their conversation upstairs after that—the four adults went down to the training area to see what was going on. They all stopped dead when they finally found them. Kaien looked like he had stepped in front of tank and had been relegated to the ground on his back in a crater of what they could only suppose his body had made, but he obviously wasn't _kept_ there against his will. A smaller body was straddling his, sporting scuffs of its own, and keeping him against the ground while her hands kept their place by his cheeks. His seemed content to stay put gently on her hips, like he was afraid she might try to move, while their lips enthusiastically fought each other for dominance.

Well, that explained why they hadn't come up.

Yoruichi leaned into her lover and sighed happily. At last their little girl was allowed some peace from the torment of the five years she had spent in self-deprival and anger. Her relationship with Soi-Fong had taken some time to repair fully, but it came out stronger than it had been before she left that hundred years earlier. Obviously this was what it took for the leap from friendship to relationship to be made for their daughter. Urahara waved his fan in front of his face just to hide his dumb-ass grin that looked a bit too much like Isshin's at that moment. He hadn't seen _this_ coming at all.

_Not_.

Tatsuki tried to hide the blush rising on her face when Ichigo had murmured something in her ear with a smile after looking over the scene, but she was still happy that her son had finally followed through with the deepest desire of his heart.

And Ichigo? Well, Ichigo just beamed with pride while he tried to devise ways to sneak his wife away from everything so they could go have some 'fun' of their own. Still, he was watching his _son_ make-out with what was obviously going to soon be his girlfriend, so he coughed politely to try and gain their attention.

The two in question froze in place instantly.

Kin removed herself from his lips, but that didn't mean she wanted to. Looking into his terrified ever-lit eyes, she knew he was thinking exactly the same thing. "Um, Kaien," she whispered, "is there a big neon sign over us that says: 'busted?'"

Her oldest friend gulped. "There might as well be." She groaned and let her head fall against his hard chest, alarmingly near the void that resided there.

"So!" Urahara began cheerfully. "Now that you two have kissed and made up, would you care to go a round, Kurosaki-san?"

If he wasn't looking directly at him, Kaien might have assumed the blonde man was talking to his father. No such luck in this case. Willing a certain part of his anatomy to lower, Kaien gently prodded Kin in the side with his finger and she took the cue and got off him to allow him to stand up. He brushed off his white Espada-like clothing and looked over at the calm shopkeeper, who he could see was deadly serious even though his voice suggested otherwise. Kin had come close to pounding him into ground beef, but he had always healed fast and he knew the shopkeeper had a reason for asking to fight.

"Want to see how good my dad's trained me? He learned most of what he knows from you ya know," Kaien said back as he tried to edge into his fighting stance inconspicuously.

Urahara's eyes seemed to burn into him from under the hat's covering. "I want to see how well you can protect my daughter."

All at once, Kaien threw any aspect of humor that had previously been in his demeanor or words out the window and his face settled into his fighting scowl. "Then you better be prepared to kill me, because the only way anyone's getting to her is over my dead body." _I've hurt her enough, I won't allow anything else to hurt her ever again!_

Kisuke grinned in his usual way as he pulled his sword from its disguised sheath. "Is that so?"

Ichigo and Tatsuki had found the perfect way out in this, and confident in their son, they quickly snuck out. Yoruichi wanted to see what was so special about Kaien, so she decided to stay. She backed away a fair distance though, only after grabbing Kin and bringing her along.

"Mom!? What's Dad do—!?"

She was cut off by her mother's "shh!" and quickly turn back to the two combatants as they stared each other down. She knew it was hardly fair considering the state he was in, but it was more of a spar anyway. She had no reason to fear for his life.

"I heard all about you from your parents. Here you don't have the territorial advantage. I know this place like the back of my palm, even if you try to hide yourself. What are you going to do here, Kurosaki-san?"

Kaien grit his teeth about being taunted about his obvious weakness. "I just won't allow you to cut me."

Again, that same patented Kisuke Urahara grin. "You think so? Benihime's not so nice a girl that she won't. I have a feeling I won't be able to take this lightly, so I won't coddle you like I did your mother." Kaien gulped. "Awaken, Benihime."

On cue, the sword responded to its name as was in every zanpakutou's nature, and soon the ornate sword had replaced the cane-like blade.

With no visible prompting, Urahara shot forward with blade at the ready, but since Kaien was so close to his fighting stance already he easily stopped the blade between his crossed arms in a standard Karate block. Urahara whistled appreciatively. "Quite the skin you have there. Tell me, what number have the Espada given you, my Hollow-like friend?" he asked as he pushed harder on his blade and made the taller male fly off the end of the sword and into one of the nearby mountains.

Kaien flew out of the smoke of the rubble and sent a punch that was easily parried at the blonde man's head, but that was only the feint he had set up to hide the foot flying towards his unprotected knee, which managed to catch the shopkeeper off-balance. Or at least, it _seemed_ to. Urahara swayed like a tree until he jabbed Benihime into the ground and used her bent hilt as a base to swing upwards so a kick could be made to the yellow-eyed man's head, one that looked completely uncomfortable to any inflexible male. Kaien blocked it naturally, but the force behind it jarred up his arm and he winced.

_Damn, he uses more than just zanjutsu! This is gonna be harder than I thought!_

"The Espada didn't give me a number," he replied while trying to attack and dodge at the same time. Kisuke's grin seemed a bit _too_ smug after that, so he continued his former sentence. "They usually just call me the Prince."

The grin quickly disappeared.

A quick strike, an even quicker block. A fast evade, an even faster counterattack. Urahara countered every one of his moves like he saw them coming a mile away and even though Kaien was managing to fight evenly with him, he knew any more of this and at some point he was going to get cut. So he thought up a plan.

"Come now, Kurosaki-sa~~~n, you can do better than this can't you? Surely you have weapons at your disposal if they've named you the Prince of Hueco Mundo?" Urahara taunted flamboyantly as he sent yet another freakishly powerful slash at the younger man's torso. He didn't miss Kaien's smirk, and so hoping to catch the overconfident teen by surprise, he quickly redirected his first swing into an acrobatic display of sword-assisted flips that put him crouched right in front of the now wide-eyed Kaien Kurosaki. "Tsk tsk, Kurosaki-san." And he brought the blade up. This time _his_ eyes widened when Kaien's smirk widened in turn and the sword bit into his flesh.

The flesh of his left arm.

"I saw that coming, Hat-and-Clogs," he taunted, using his father's old nickname for the 'humble' shopkeeper. Urahara knew what was coming though, and so he was unsurprised when the body quickly fell to the ground in convulsions.

He sighed as he straightened himself upright and tapped the flat of Benihime's blade against his shoulder as he looked down on the pained young man. "You saw it, but you couldn't do anything about it. You lose, Kurosaki-san." He raised Benihime above his head and prepared to bring it down, unmindful of the frightened shriek of his daughter for him to stop. His eyes soon went wider than they had even been before and he quickly jumped away.

The Cero that fired not a second later would have taken his head off had he stayed in place.

He kept his wide eyes on the Kurosaki child as he fumbled his way to his feet and smiled disconcertingly at the not-so-calm shopkeeper. "How…? I thought your parents said you would be incapacitated for at least a few minutes…" There was something wrong here, he just couldn't figure out what.

"You don't know everything about Kin do you? Parents can't know everything about their children," the black-haired anomaly teased as he grinned down the alarmed ex-captain.

The battle began anew, and this time Kaien wasn't afraid of getting cut, so every now often he suffered a small cut or so, but the battle seemed to be more in his favor now that that was out of the way. Urahara couldn't understand it; he had been able to read his moves more fluently before, but now there was something off about the body before him. The strikes didn't seem as powerful, and his muscles didn't seem to move in quite the same way as they had before. Something was definitely wrong here.

So lost was he in thought, he didn't sense the kick that jarred his stomach and sent him to his knees. He watched as Kaien walked towards him and stood confidently to his front. "I win, Urahara-san."

He now had a theory, but now he had to test it. Setting his eyes on the figure before him, he readied his stance. "Sing…Beni—"

Before he even got to finish his sentence, he felt the blade of a sword set itself against the side of his neck from behind. Staying still as stone, but allowing his eyes to move, imagine his shock when he saw Benihime set against his throat, and it was Kaien holding it, even though he was also standing right in front of him.

"She's quite the sword, Hat-and-Clogs. No wonder you don't use her Bankai. Her Bankai's definitely not suited for training people or lending people power, like you did with my mom and dad." Urahara's gaze saddened. He knew what was coming. "It can only be used for _killing_. The Red Princess sure earns her name well. She's quite the handful too. She wasn't very happy when she realized what happens whenever a zanpakutou cuts me."

Urahara's gaze snapped wide in realization. _Oh no._ When Kaien raised his other hand towards the other 'Kaien' that had been fighting him for a few minutes before, Urahara's fears were confirmed.

"Crumble, Kyouka Suigetsu."

The second 'Kaien' blew apart in a burst of glowing spirit particles and revealed the green-hilted sword underneath, returning to his hand before vanishing altogether. "You're right Urahaha-san, you have complete territorial advantage here, but I've been playing here since I was four. I know everything about it, just like you, but I couldn't risk you finding me. The second I released Kyouka Suigetsu you were already trapped, so you can't remember the moment of its release, can you? I had to give you something to occupy your time while I recovered otherwise I would have lost, exactly like you said."

Urahara sighed exaggeratedly. "You can use the zanpakutous you copy when they cut you, even ones without owners. That's a pretty impressive ability," he noted cheerily as he smiled despite the situation.

The young man previously his opponent smiled too and removed his version of Benihime from Urahara's neck. "Yeah, but it comes at a hell of a price, which is why I tend to avoid using them whenever possible. It's bad enough I have to worry about the first cut, but I have to worry about what happens after too." Urahara quirked a brow at him, so he elaborated further. "Is our fight over for now, Hat-and-Clogs?"

"I've seen enough for now. Next time I'll expect you to use more of your strength, including that technique your mother told me about."

Kaien's eyes widened, but he nodded. "All right." He let his zanpakutou vanish back into himself and he seemed fine for a few seconds as he relaxed, but surprised the shopkeeper seconds later by falling face-first to the ground. He rushed to his side and flipped him over, which he saw the fallen man's arms were trying to do, but it was as if they didn't have enough energy. They were struggling to even move. Kin was beside him in an instant and they looked down on the fallen teen, who was sweating profusely and panting like he had just run two marathons in a row.

"What's wrong?!" Kin asked him frantically, and though they didn't voice it, Urahara and Yoruichi were wondering the same thing.

His eyes turned to regard them, and it was like he conveyed he could barely speak in the look alone. Then they saw him move his mouth, and leant forward to hear the whispered words. "This is what happens after my fights are over if I've used any of the zanpakutous I've copied. Dad compared it to the berserkergang ability of the berserkers in mythology; when I'm fighting I'm fine, better than fine even, and if I'm using my zanpakutous I can use as many as I need, either at the same time or in fusion."

He stopped to catch his lost breath as Kin wiped away the sweat from his forehead. "After I think the battle is over though and I relax, my body shuts down so it can regain what it lost. My body uses everything it has to give me the superhuman stamina I need for battle and the reiatsu I need to form the sword out of thin air, but after, I might as well be sleeping. Even now, I can barely move." He proved his point by looking over at his arm, and when they looked too, they could see the muscles bulging and straining, like they was trying to move the appendage, but they just couldn't gather the strength they needed to lift it. He stopped struggled and rolled his head back. "As long as I don't use them I'm fine, that's why I tend to use that technique I developed, the one Mom told you about."

Kin's worried eyes continued to trace over his tall, muscled form as the muscles trembled like they had been used too much. "How long does this last?"

He took another large gulp of air. "Depends on how long I fight. There was a serious battle with the Adjucha's once that went on for almost a day before Dad finally destroyed enough of them for their retreat. I was out for almost a day and a half after that one. I should be okay in a little while." He tried moving his arm again, and this time he was able to make it move, but only slightly, and it soon fell lifelessly against his stomach seconds after it was lifted. "See? I'm already getting back movement."

Yoruichi sighed sadly. _Such a great ability, but even greater side-effects,_ she thought. "Come on Kin, let's get him upstairs."

Kin nodded, and hoisting him up by putting one of his arms over their shoulders with one of them on either side, they helped him upstairs with a burst of Shunpo from the two chocolate-skinned women.

Kisuke Urahara stayed down in the training area a moment longer as he readjusted his hat. "So, Kaien is the fusion of all three spiritual entities, but he's mainly the zanpakutou. According to what Ichigo said, Tsukiyomi seems to edge more to the side of the inner Hollow; and Masaki was born as a normal Soul Reaper, but became a Vizard soon after she found out the name of her zanpakutou, _without_ the use of the inner battle or any blood-lustful side-effects of the first transformation. Oh boy." He sighed. "Sheesh, Kurosaki-san, the Spiritual Realm will never be the same again because of you, will it?"

He looked up at the fake sky, almost like he expected it to answer him.

………

Souken Ishida had always been proud of his abilities and his impeccable chivalry, as he was taught by his father to take pride in, and yet something as seemingly simple as getting a girl to notice him just wasn't as easy as he first thought. It didn't help that the person he had set his crosshairs on also happened to be in love with the prince of Hueco Mundo.

_What is it with Ishida men falling for women already in love with Kurosaki's?_ he wondered as he blew up the next target he had set up for himself, one a good two-hundred yards away.

He kept reminding himself his father eventually _had_ won his mother over, but unlike his father, he hadn't been hiding his feelings since he was eight and was now eigh_teen. _With a sigh of frustration, he let his bow vanish back into the medallion embedded in his wrist and sank down to the dusty ground of Hueco Mundo.

He didn't _need_ to be here, he had finished his training long ago and could have went back to the Living World, but she wouldn't have been there, and without her being there, he couldn't have the chance to charm her.

_Yeah right, who are you kidding?_ He asked himself sarcastically. It was in every Ishida's nature to be charming to some degree, but when it came to _directing_ that charm, Souken Ishida was an abysmal failure. He slumped his face into his hands as they leant on his knees. "Damn, you're pathetic Ishida," he told himself angrily.

A light tap on his shoulder startled him and he was up, around, and had his bow activated and pointed before he could even allow his brain to process the reiatsu of the person now in front of him. To his utter shock, there was the person he had just been thinking of, and she looked more distraught than usual, but as usual, she tried to hide it under a fake smile.

"Going to send me to Soul Society already are you?" she joked half-heartedly.

Yes, the Quincy had finally come to terms with the Soul Reapers, and thanks to his father and Kisuke Urahara's ingenuity, they had figured out a way to make the Quincy's spiritual bows able to purify the Hollows instead of killing them. It had taken a good deal of humility for Uryuu to admit he didn't want the Hollow's utterly destroyed, because after seeing the Arrancar's, he couldn't deny that somewhere under the base instinct there _were_ rational beings that didn't compulsively kill. Besides, if a Quincy died, there _was_ the chance of them becoming a Hollow, no matter how hard he might have tried to deny it. The thought of destroying a Quincy's soul just because it had turned into a Hollow was unforgivable.

Hence the reason for the medallion _embedded_ in Souken's wrist. The reason why zanpakutou's are able to purify Hollows is because of the spirit dwelling inside them, but since the Quincy's bow was just spirit particles from the atmosphere, it would only destroy them, not purify them. They had come up with a solution to that, and that was for the Quincy wielding the bow to _become_ the spirit it needed. By being embedded inside the host, the Quincy was not only using the spirit particles around them to fight, but also their own reiatsu, therefore acting as the spirit medium to purify the soul it destroyed. It was an ability Souken and all but one of his siblings put to good use.

He gave a mirthless laugh in response to Asuka's joke. "That's not funny." He rarely saw her like this. _Maybe it has something to do with Kaien's reiatsu earlier today?_ It took a second for the enormity of his own thought to sink in. _Oh…._ He had forgotten the last time he had felt the young man's reiatsu.

"They're together, finally," she said bravely as she sat down and he quickly turned and followed suit.

"Was there any loss of life?" he joked uneasily, and she laughed. He was thankful for that.

"I almost killed her, but she had it coming. I hadn't seen Kaien cry since we were kids."

_So _that's_ why I felt Kurosaki's reiatsu so out-of-control earlier. I hadn't felt it in so long I almost didn't recognize it! No wonder she went after her._ When he looked back at her, he saw that she was looking at him with an amused look on her face. "W-What?" he stuttered while he adjusted his glasses.

"You know, I can't read minds. If you want me to hear something you're going to have to speak it out loud and not just think it all the time," she told him matter-of-factly.

He gulped nervously and licked his dry lips as he inwardly cursed the fact that he got most of his mother's emotional qualities and not enough of the 'cool, calm, Quincy' his father had. Before he could say anything however, he felt her head lean on his shoulder. His insides decided to play Pong with themselves but outwardly he was able to keep himself rather calm.

"He's gone, and even though I knew this was going to happen one day, I still couldn't stop my heart from loving him. Maybe it was just my Hollow side responding to his power or something," she explained weakly, but she wasn't prepared for her body's reaction when he tenderly put his arm around her quivering shoulders and let her stay against his shoulder. She craved Kaien's touch, but even she wouldn't have guessed she could respond so vividly to someone else's, and it wasn't even in any provocative way either. Her stomach felt life it was falling over itself and for some reason it felt like the blood in her veins had turned into fire.

"Falling for things we can't have is instinct in everything, not just Hollows. I know that all too well," he said, and only after her eyes quirked up at him curiously did he realize he had said that out loud.

Asuka was in no way stupid, and since Souken never _had_ been able to shut his eyes out to what his emotions were before, she was able to see each and every tender thought running through his mind as he looked down on her with those magnificent midnight-blue eyes. Feeling more than a bit confident in herself, she carefully edged closer to his side and noted with interest the way his breathing quickened and his back seemed to go rigid before he tried to hide that by relaxing just as quickly.

"So…" she asked 'innocently,' "who is it the gallant Quincy has fallen for that's so out of his reach?"

_When did Hueco Mundo get so hot!?_ He thought as he fought the urge to pull at the collar of his shirt. The object of his affections was cuddled right up into his side and he could barely form a coherent thought! Let alone a sentence! "Y-You know, it's not p-proper to answer that." He nearly rolled his eyes. _Smooth, Quincy, really smooth._

She saw the panic in his eyes and let a dangerous smirk cross her features, which she saw he had definitely noticed, and the panic had greatened. Now that she thought about it, she had had years to get over her infatuation with Kaien; really all that had been left was for him to get together with Kin. It was strange how easy it was to let something go when she realized he had never been hers in the first place. She let herself crawl like the panther she was slowly over as she kept her eyes glued to his. "Would this person, pray tell, be around my height?" she whispered seductively, and nearly grinned when he gulped heavily again. "Maybe with light blue eyes? Some blue hair even?"

His mind was shutting down, turning off, saying sayonara, adios amigo, see ya in the next life. She wasn't crawling _closer_ was she? No, she wouldn't…. His eyes finally focused again, and they saw she was right in front of his face, straddling his hips with her knees supported on either side of his legs from where he was sitting. She was so close, so close he could move his head forward two inches and taste the lips he had lusted over for the better part of his adolescent years.

"Oh god…" he whimpered breathlessly in his low tenor voice, and saw her grin widen.

"That'll do," she said mischievously and pushed herself forward to claim her prize, pushing him to his back so she could continue their kiss. She never knew how much pent-up emotion the Quincy had within him, but that soon became vastly apparent when he responded…and took her breath away. His lips were forceful and soft, thin and hungry, and he rolled them over so he could be on top and kissed her so hard she could only see stars behind her eyelids. He had wanted this for so long, and now that she had initiated it, he had no problems with showing her just how much he wanted her.

He felt her hands glide through his hair in a silent entreaty to continue and he did so with vigor, supporting himself with one hand while the other softly caressed the bone-fragment on her jaw-line, an act he had learned over his time in Hueco Mundo was one of the few ways Arrancar's expressed their softer emotions, and love. She shivered beneath him at the touch and he groaned into their kiss when her lithe hands went down to roam his hard chest.

Trailing his hand away from the bone and down her graceful neck she purred, literally _purred_. Unable to suppress his baser instincts at the sound that would have caused any other male to take her on the spot, he was slightly embarrassed when he felt his pants tighten. He went back up to that small piece of mask-fragment and to her surprise, he moved away from her lips and put a soft kiss there, which made her entire body go rigid beneath him before it seemingly melted and she started panting lustfully while staring in his eyes with neon-blue orbs of pure molten affection.

"Do you think I aimed too high?" he asked softly as he looked at her, not even the least bit unnerved that she was looking at him like he was a twelve-course meal.

She smiled and licked her lips sensually. _This_ was what she had always wanted; someone that wanted _her_, wholly and unconditionally _her_. "Oh no Quincy, as usual, you were right on target."

He dove back down for her lips and she found herself easily submitting to the male above her, something she found she didn't mind at all. She could trust him, he held pride and honor above everything else, so he would never compromise her willingly.

Somewhere in her mind, something clicked.

She just realized she hadn't aimed high enough.

………

**Author's Notes:** And here's chapter five! I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing yet again! You guys are seriously awesome! More info in this chapter, and even more to come! I don't stop revealing things all through the chapters of this story, so stay tuned! Reviews are almost unhealthily appreciated!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	6. A Promise Kept

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

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**A Promise Kept**

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Kin Urahara was grumbling her way to school as she slung her bag over opposite shoulders at ever decreasing intervals. Kaien had been back for a week now, and his family had reestablished themselves in their old home, but he had left out a very important detail when he had come back. It seemed her best friend, boyfriend, and all-around eye-candy had already _graduated_ high school and had learned most of what he needed to know about the Fourth Division from his father, effectively making him a _doctoral_ candidate at the age of eighteen.

Though Hueco Mundo didn't have the same pull Soul Society did, that didn't mean that there had been no visitors from Soul Society during that five year period. Maybe, just maybe, if a certain noble had decided to visit to find out what was really happening—because he wasn't about to fall for Kisuke Urahara's ridiculous bluffs in the Living World—he might have found out what was going on. After he did, he might have made it a special priority to make sure that any learning the children did would be recognized universally. _Maybe._

Ichigo Kurosaki never really had realized how much respect he had gained from Byakuya Kuchiki.

Obviously Kaien hadn't just worked on gaining more zanpakutous to add to his inner collection, which to this day he still hadn't revealed how many he had at his disposal. Truth of the matter was she couldn't imagine what he had gone through to get as many as he had; watching him thrash around on the ground in nothing less than abject agony had been one of the hardest things she had ever done, and that was only from _one._ He had _far_ from just _one_ zanpakutou, she was sure of that. Judging from his arm, she knew it had to be a pretty large amount.

Then again when she thought about it, she wasn't really that surprised at how far he had progressed. It explained his scholastic abilities of their younger years quite easily, and how he had been able to keep up with her even back then. After all, zanpakutous and inner Hollows could learn things much faster than any regular Soul Reaper. In fact, it was usually the zanpakutou—and if applicable, the inner Hollow—that taught the Soul Reaper about themselves and the world.

Not to mention his father had practically written the book on breaking records.

She had always been smarter than smart, but over the five year interval in which he had been away her only thought was surpassing him in strength and making him pay, something which she now found quite useless. The bandages on her hands attested to that. In her off time she had managed to stay ahead of her studies though honestly, most of her studying had been of the Shinigami academy. She had never found a reason to take the graduation tests for high school, and when she went back she had even found she enjoyed it to some extent, though not for the best of reasons admittedly. Now she found herself in a rather annoying situation, a school-bound student, while Kaien was able to stay away and relax. _That_ certainly didn't make her like it.

Her grumbling resumed. If Kaien Kurosaki got to sit around on his ass all day then she sure as hell wasn't going to let him do it alone. Besides, there was no end to the possibilities of what they could do with so much free time.

She resisted the urge to grind her teeth together at the other thoughts that came to mind when she thought of that.

Every day after school so far she had found him either fighting with her father or with her mother and they were enjoying it fully, even though it left him too tired to do much of anything with _her_. Other than that, there was also the fact that he had yet to do anything more than kiss her yet. He was a damn good kisser, no, a _spectacular _kisser, she had to give him that, but he had been away from her for so long he really didn't know the _other_ thing she had used to get rid of her pent-up aggression, _besides_ punching the living stuffing out of anything that got in her way. It really hadn't helped when he had come back and put even her wildest fantasies to shame. True, she hadn't expected some of the appearance changes, like the black eye tattoos akin to Grimmjow's and Asuka's, or the massive amount of scarring and consequential tattooing on his arm, but they only made him look better than she could have ever thought possible.

It was getting to the point where she was starting to become embarrassed at her own body's reactions. She knew the amount of sex appeal she had and how other men looked at her, but before him she had never felt anything towards any of them, and had gotten unused to any kind of arousal—and _relief_ of that arousal—other than that of her own doing. Now every time he left she had to take a cold shower and change her underwear just because their activities had gotten her too excited to control herself. What made her angrier than any of that though was that she had felt _his_ arousal too during those times, and yet he had never acted on it. Unlike before he didn't stutter or run away crying, he had just continued kissing her, albeit with more passion, but still nothing above what they had been doing thus far even though she could practically _see_ the waves of lust radiating from him. It wasn't too far of a stretch to think he was in much the same situation as her afterwards, so she couldn't help but wonder _why._

Her body yearned for his touch, even if it was something as simple as running his hands down her sides. Every time their lips met and he grew bolder in their embrace, she could have sworn she was going to tear her skin from the inside out. It felt like her flesh was tightening around every muscle and nerve she had, trying to be as sensitive as it possibly could to try and feel the lightest of his caresses. Just the soft touch of his hand as he ran it down the side of her face lovingly, like he couldn't believe the beauty before him, had her practically whimpering in need. She wanted him so badly, she had for years, and with him finally back—and most importantly: with her—that desire had grown to an unbearable lust that wanted nothing more than to pin him to her bed and tear off his clothing; or better yet, for him to do that to her. He had more self-control than she knew she ever would have, but then again her mother had always been a happy-go-lucky go-getter that did everything she wanted to when she wanted to, and she took great pride in trying to emulate her mother.

_So what if we've only been back together for a week!? Who cares!?!?_

She had wanted him for far longer than a week. She had wanted him for half a _decade_. Most of all, she wanted him to step things up, and if he didn't…well, if he didn't, _she would._

Walking into class with her usual strut, she could feel the eyes of the males in the room on her right away. That wasn't to say the rest of the young women in the class weren't gorgeous in their own right, it was just that she outdid them all by miles. She wasn't even trying to put any of them down, it was actually the truth.

Usually it wasn't natural for anyone outside of an Amazonian warrior to have her kind of tan skin with her freakishly blonde hair, and her equally stunning yet still unnatural eyes added to her exotic look. She knew how well she filled out the school uniform, and how the plain gray miniskirt revealed what seemed to be miles of her creamy chocolate legs, toned to perfection through her endless hours of training.

She almost felt sorry for the other girls in the class, because in that respect they were all normal and she was superhuman, something not even human to be absolutely precise. She was sure if they had the same kind of motivation she did then they would look the same way; well, in muscle anyway. There were some things that just couldn't be _trained_ to get bigger other than through heredity—or plastic surgery, but that doesn't count—and she had her mother to thank for the large bosom straining against her shirt and bra.

She had to admit that even through all that, most of her appeal came from her old habit of one-day boyfriends. It had gotten to the point that the guys were betting on who was going to be able to go out with her for more than a day, and the pot had gotten very large from what she heard.

_Too bad for them, I'm not interested anymore,_ she thought happily as her thoughts once again returned to the man that had finally reentered her life. Her eyes perked up when she heard the door open and their beloved teacher stepped in, Mrs. Misato Kojima. Mizuiro always had had a thing for older women, and Miss Ochi had been a very young teacher to begin with. Suffice it to say, things had taken off after graduation, and the new couple found themselves happily married.

The once young but still exuberant teacher _still_ drove her class up the wall, and they still loved her for it. She had grown older, but that was hardly noticeable in her looks. For a regular human with only growing spiritual awareness, she had aged quite gracefully and showed no signs of giving in soon. She was still teaching more classes than seemed humanly possible, but then again she was the most loved homeroom teacher out of the entire school. Since their school wasn't restricted to just high school, she had known their group back before any of them had discovered their powers, and so she had been delighted when Kin had come back for grade twelve.

"Howdy ladies and gerbils! Time to start a new day!" As was the regular routine, a simultaneous groan was issued from the class, but just as was the regular routine, there were smiles on their faces as it was let loose. Kin enjoyed this part of the day more than any other. "I've got a treat for you today! A medical student studying human psychology has been hired as a teacher's assistant! As part of his practicum he'll be sitting in and helping teach our classes for the next…I don't know how long, but we'll know eventually!"

Kin sighed dramatically. _Yup, that's just like her._

Coughing embarrassedly, Mrs. Kojima quickly burst back into her hyperactive spiel. "So here he is! Some of you may recognize him, he once knew some of you!"

Golden eyes widened. _He wouldn't have…. _Her thoughts were confirmed the second the door was opened, and every female mouth dropped to the floor, even most of the males'. _He did!!!_

Kaien stepped through the doorway, and she had to quickly swallow all the excess saliva that had suddenly formed in her mouth before anyone saw that she was two seconds away from drooling. He was wearing the standard issue winter uniform sans the sweaty-vest, but it appeared like he had either forgotten how to do up buttons or he had chosen not to, because only the middle three had been done up, allowing for the shirt to split away from those ends. Though that would usually reveal the bare skin of the toned chest underneath, that wasn't the case in this scenario. It might as well have.

He was wearing a fitted undershirt that went from his waistline up to his collar, so though no flesh could be seen, it left little to the imagination as to his thin and sculpted physique. Its purpose soon became clear though, for when she looked to his left arm she saw that as per his usual style he had been unable to resist rolling up the sleeves on the button-up, so the black undershirt covered his tattooed mass of scars before revealing his hand. Not to mention the white shirt would have been unable to hide the black tattoos regardless, so the black covering had been a must in the first place. He had taken the professional look of a teacher and finessed it to his own liking without losing its formality, because with only a couple of changes to the regular winter uniform he had managed to make it look like it belonged on him.

None of the guys in class filled out his pants the way he did though, at least not to her. As he walked to the head of the class she couldn't tear her eyes away from his backside as it moved in the pants she had never before believed could be considered as sexy. Like usual he had smoothed his hair back, allowing for only the few rebellious strands to hang over his face and eyes; eyes that practically burned into her from under their tattooed lids while his freakishly long cloth-covered ponytail glided elegantly behind him.

It wasn't _natural_ for such a bland school uniform to look so damn _good_.

Then again, the way he was looking at her suggested he was thinking the same thing.

Then he smiled at them all, and though Kin had been around him for a week so far, she almost lost consciousness, as did many other members. "Hey guys, been a while for some of you! My name's Kaien Kurosaki in case you don't remember, and I'll be helping out here for a while. I've been…away, for some time so I'll also be watching you to see how the culture here has changed compared to the others I've been in! Psychology and Cultural Anthropology can be so fickle sometimes."

Misato beamed at him. "Your father always was a bright one when he wasn't skipping class, but who knew he'd have a genius son already graduated and almost to a doctorate by eighteen?! You Kurosaki's always have been special in one way or another!"

Kin almost rolled her eyes, and she could tell Kaien wanted to do the same thing even though he did do the other thing he wanted to, and that was to laugh. "You're right there."

Unmindful that she was taking up class time, as she usually was, the teacher continued right on in a conversation with him in front of the entire class. "So what's your dad up to now anyways? I haven't heard from him in ages!"

This time Kaien _did_ roll his eyes._ Ruling over an entire race of superhuman spiritual beings that could blow up the better part of Japan in a moment if they wanted to; keeping up appearances as a captain of one of the elite divisions of a group of people you couldn't comprehend in a million years; and you know, generally being the strongest known person in the universe who could turn you into a Hollow without batting an eyelash and into a Shinigami right after without breaking a sweat if he wanted to. You know, the usual._

Instead, he smiled back at her and simply said, "Politics." It wasn't a complete lie at least.

Misato scratched her head as she scrunched her face up in a confused, almost alarmingly cute, pout. "Hmph, never figured him the type to go into that. Who knew? Anyways, I'll give you today to get acquainted with everything, so just take a seat at the back of the class." Then, without skipping a beat, she slammed her hands on the table and cast her blazing eyes on the class. "Now back to class! Today we're studying…"

Kaien had long since tuned her out, and he walked down one of the rows to take the offered seat at the back of the class, unresponsive at the pout Kin gave him when he passed an open desk near hers. He seemed to have no problem keeping his personal life apart from his professional life, but that still didn't make her like the fact that he could look at her all day—_teach _her all day; _her_ of all people—and she couldn't look at him else she turn her head and make it obvious to everyone what she was doing. It would be much easier when he was at the head of the class helping out. Suddenly, a possibility dawned on her, and she swallowed thickly.

He couldn't possibly be here just to be able to see her, could he?

Taking the risk so soon after class had started, she turned her head and saw him nonchalantly scanning the entire room, but when they fell on her his gaze lingered and she swore she could see the beginnings of a smirk on his face. He was teasing her with his very _presence!_

Already, Kin knew it was going to be a _looooong_ day.

………

True to her prediction, it had been exactly that, but Kaien had more than made up for it after school by quickly making her forget everything but his name as he kissed her into a state of euphoric stupor. Again, Kin swiftly found herself getting angry when he left and she realized even though he had made her feel so good, they _still_ hadn't done anything yet!

So once more she grumbled her way to school, and nearly glared at the black-haired male sitting exactly where he had yesterday, simply observing everything around him before he was called up to help teach. She knew he had made up a bogus reason to be here—what else could it be?—and his title as a genius had allowed him to get away with it, and she _really_ liked him around her at all times, and…

She found out almost immediately the only reason she had for not wanting him there was because she wanted him so much _closer._

Beating the butterflies in her stomach back into submission and walking over to her desk, for some reason she found a plain box wrapped with a bow had been placed on it. Her heartbeat sped up and she had to calm her heart before she fainted right in front of everyone. There was no occasion for this; her birthday was in the summer months and Christmas was still a month away, so the only reason someone would have to give her a gift would be to garner her affection, something that now belonged solely to one person. Someone who she knew would go through the roof if he so much as saw someone else look at her funny.

She shivered in delight when she remembered the heated glares he had given the men of the class after they didn't seem to comprehend she was finally taken. Being the sole object of his affection was what she had always wanted, and she had no shame in _not_ hiding that fact.

Curious now, she looked over the box carefully and many other girls joined her, as they too had been aware of the object on her desk and they were all eyeing it just as curiously, wondering which male in the class had had the guts to make such a bold move. It became apparent there was no note or name on the outside of the box, and so with a hesitant breath, Kin undid the bow and opened the box.

At first she didn't understand what she was seeing, but then she reached in and almost gasped at the softness of the material, pulling it out and revealing a long black scarf, nearly six feet in length. It was impossibly light in her hands and the scent that lingered on it was indescribable. It was black down to the darkest degree possible, and glimmered in the light if it were moved the right way. Her mother always wore a tan scarf, and she usually opted for one too just out of the desire to be like her mother, but this was something extraordinary. She stared in wonder at the gift she was holding. It must have cost a _fortune_. Hazarding a glance at her boyfriend and student teacher sitting behind her—who she knew had to be livid by now—she noted instantly the fond smile on his face as he looked at her.

It was a pretty safe assumption who the gift was from now.

Unable to control herself, she ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck, one hand still cradling the precious gift. It was just like him to give her a gift that was something she would use everyday, but still be fancy enough to be noticed as irregular.

"Oh Kaien thank you! You must have killed someone to be able to afford this!!" He gave a soft laugh, but not what she had expected.

"Five years," the soft reply came, and she quirked her head to the side quizzically.

"What did you say?"

"Five years. That's how long it cost to make that."

She wasn't following at all, but she didn't deny herself the feeling of the otherworldly scarf between her fingers. "Where did you find it then?"

He didn't answer her, instead he gave her another one of his knee-melting smiles and moved the arms still entwined around his neck higher. She was clueless to what he meant for a few seconds, until she realized there was something missing behind his head, something her arms should be wrapped around. Her bright gold eyes widened in alarm and she quickly scanned the back of his neck and back with her hands, where sure enough, they found nothing. She looked down on the beautifully simple scarf in her hands with a suddenly dry mouth.

His ponytail was gone, now only the simple yet stunning way he smoothed his hair back was the only style he had other than letting it hang limply around his head.

"This is…?" she asked hesitantly, unmindful of the growing state of wetness her eyes were working in to.

"I promised myself I wouldn't cut that part of my hair until I saw you again. I hope you like it; Asuka and I were up all night weaving it." He chuckled. "She had helped me with it all the years I was growing it out, and she had threatened to do some very unpleasant things to me if she wasn't there when I cut it. Don't worry, it's only woven into the silk, I made sure it would have the versatility you'd need. I just wanted to give you something that would _show_ you I'd never leave you again."

Now she recognized the presence it was giving off. It was Kaien; one-hundred percent Kaien Kurosaki. Engraved in the silk of this scarf was years of his life. With this wrapped around her neck he would never leave her again, not entirely. This gift wasn't something that could be bought with money; this gift was something that could only be created through commitment, through years of promise.

"You should probably take your seat now, people are starting to stare," he 'observed' humorously and she turned redder than a tomato when she remembered they were still in class. She shot over to her seat like a lightning bolt, thoughtless to the looks of envy sent her way by the many females of the class and the looks of downright hatred sent Kaien's way by many of the males. The ones that had been in the same school all their lives however, they knew the history between the two, and though there had been a momentary second of resentment, that was quickly replaced by happiness. Some things in this world were meant to be.

The scarf never left her neck for the rest of the day.

………

Tatsuki wasn't stupid; she had gone through this before. She may not have lived as long as all their Soul Reaper friends so far, but she _had_ gained more wisdom as she advanced in years, even if her body didn't show it. It had been a tremendous relief when she had jumped back into her modified body and it was like nothing had changed between her soul and her body, as it had been back when she was a teenager. It was so exhilarating she had almost cried.

She was going to kill him. She was going to kill him slowly, painfully, and with scrupulous tenacity until he understood the pain she was going to go through just because she couldn't stop loving him. The damn infuriatingly sexy bastard he was.

Her stomach flipped again and she slumped over the toilet as what little she had left in her stomach was forced to the surface and she retched again. This wasn't the flu, she knew that much, and considering their activities the week prior and through the week since, she knew what it was.

One part of her was overjoyed, the maternal instinct that had taken over since she had had children, but another part of her was regretful because she knew that their newest arrival wouldn't have anyone their age to play with, at least not in Hueco Mundo.

She almost laughed aloud at that even though her stomach still didn't want to agree with her quite yet.

Their marriage—and what she could only suspect to be the side-effects of the Association's infamous tape of their bout in the alley—had the unexpected effect of creating a boom in the birth-rate of Soul Society's elite ranks. It wasn't too long after she had had Kaien that Rangiku had found herself pregnant, as had Rukia, Isane, and Nanao—it was only a matter of time before she succumbed to her captain. It hadn't helped when what little remained of her dwindling willpower had shattered completely after she had watched the video with the Association and realized she was being left behind in what every other Soul Reaper was gradually awakening to thanks to Ichigo Kurosaki: their emotions.

Not only them, but the foremost shock had come when Retsu Unohana had announced her own pregnancy, and the race to find a lasting cure for Captain Ukitake took on a whole new level of concern. If it wasn't found, then his child might not have had a father for very long. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Yet another thing to thank Ichigo for, though most people didn't know what it was he had done.

It wasn't restricted to people they knew either, and the Thirteen Divisions suddenly had a lot of pregnancies on their hands, from _every_ division. The fact that five captains were involved either because of their relationships with the person pregnant or they were the one pregnant themselves, and that in most of the cases with them it was usually their lieutenants involved to some degree, only added to the equation. They had just lost a lot of able-bodied fighters, but with the war over and Ichigo in the Living World there wasn't too much concern pertaining to Hollows left.

The funny thing was, if the Captain-Commander had been angered by the situation, he certainly hadn't showed it. If anything, he looked like a delighted grandfather, especially in the cases of Jyushiro and Shunsui's relationships and the consequent pregnancies of their respective wives.

Eighteen years had passed since then, and yet their children still only looked around ten, if that. If Ichigo and her hadn't brought along their daughters' bodies, they might have faced the same problem, but she doubted it. The spiritron-thick Hueco Mundo was an excellent place for a growing Soul Reaper to be, and she guessed they would have grown at a normal rate even if they _hadn't_ brought along their physical forms.

An eighteen year old, two fourteen year olds, and now one on the way; their family was getting bigger all the time.

Another sudden jolt, another bout of vomiting, and she finally picked herself up from the bathroom floor, resolved to kicking Ichigo's ass before she told him the good news and he realized he had allowed her to fight, something he had forbidden the last two times.

She was pregnant. Again.

Ichigo had taken great delight in reminding their now youthful bodies what they could do because of their souls' special abilities, and the thought had never occurred to either of them that even though she had been close to the end of her childbirth eligibility in her physical body, now that said bodies had been entirely restored into their former youthfulness, her past fertility came with it. They really should have known, after all, Yoruichi had demonstrated all too realistically that a gigai was perfectly capable of bringing new life into the world. Whether or not regular gigai's were capable of that they didn't know, but Urahara was known for his attention to details, and it certainly seemed like Yoruichi had no trouble with the fact that she was going to have a child and be restrained to a faux body for a whole nine months.

Again, Tatsuki had to remind herself that what she was thinking wasn't entirely accurate, because the body she was in wasn't a gigai, it was still the body her mother had given her, albeit with a few more special modifications to the muscle tissue and the like.

There _were_ a few things about this situation she didn't like though, but they were the same things she hadn't liked about her last two pregnancies.

One: Ichigo wouldn't let her do anything even _remotely_ strenuous, even though she could easily lift a car over her head in her Soul Reaper form and fighting in all of its forms was in her very nature. That was something strictly off-limits to her while her body formed the new life inside it, and not allowing a well-trained athlete like Tatsuki to fight while living in an environment like Hueco Mundo was like having Calvin without Hobbes, Garfield without Odie, Alvin without Simon or Theodore. It was plain _torture._

Two: Ichigo would constantly insist she stay seated, and that tied in directly to her next hatred, number three.

Three: her belly would grow until it looked like she had swallowed a basketball and her ankles would get sore from waddling all the extra weight around like a penguin, hence Ichigo's insistence on making her sit, even though she didn't want to. She knew she had to, but arguing with Ichigo was one of the few forms of fighting she was allowed to do, and hey, it was fun.

She wasn't stupid either, and she knew they had been having problems with the Huge Hollows, the Menos', and the Gillian and Adjucha's lately. She had even heard rumors about the more Hollow-like Arrancar's converting to the other side because of the discrimination done by the Vastro-Lorde's that all lived in Las Noches and their envy at not being able to reach that long-prized level. With her getting pregnant, Ichigo wouldn't leave her side, and even though she loved him for that she knew it would be the perfect opportunity for the opposing side to attack. That in mind, her pregnancy would have to remain as quiet as possible, even though she knew the Vastro-Lorde's had an acute sense of their leaders' states, and especially their ability to sense souls. Their baby wouldn't be able to stay under wraps for long.

But there were some things she absolutely _loved_ about getting pregnant again. The feeling of another life growing within her had astounding her when she was pregnant with Kaien, and she had almost been overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of what her body was doing naturally without anything telling it to do so. The first time she had felt him move was like a religious experience in itself, and the thought of feeling that again wasn't anything bad in her mind. Then there was the way Ichigo would turn into even more of a doting husband than he already was, and that was saying something. Not only would he not leave her side, but if he had to because of one of her cravings, he was gone and back in a second—literally—and that was what cravings were all about, so she never had to wait long. Shunpo was a wonderful thing for midnight hankerings.

Then there was her favorite. The way he would make slow, sweet love to her while completely aware of her pregnant condition, and the way he would rub slow, soothing circles over her growing belly as they lost themselves to their manifested love. She wasn't able to make him let go of his inhibitions during this time though, but with all the extra hormones and estrogen floating around in her system, she had no problem losing herself to the agonizingly slow, loving thrusts he always gave her, as if he was afraid he could hurt the baby. He knew what she was going through because, and for, him and he made sure he did everything in his power to make that as comfortable a transition as possible, even if he put his foot down every now and then because he was worried about her safety.

He may be a damn infuriatingly sexy bastard, but he was _her_ damn infuriatingly sexy bastard, and she loved him with everything she had. Besides, she had broken his hand in two places with Kaien, three with the twins, so she couldn't help but wonder if the tradition would continue.

Maybe she would hold off on the beating, or more likely, maybe she would give him the beating then have her way with him.

Whichever came first.

………

**Author's Notes:** Well, I did this a lot when I first posted my stories on the other website, but I haven't done it much here. First thing I'm gonna do this time is address the concerns of a couple of my reviewers.

First and foremost: Wiz of Oz, seeing as how this is the second review left with concerns as to how I've written this. Cliché or no, I enjoyed it, and that was what mattered. As for Kaien, yes, after finishing the story I knew I had overpowered him slightly, but to be fair the abilities of all the Kurosaki children I created were within the realms of the universe I made. You have to remember the changes that have taken place even in the Bleach universe so far, regular Hollows hardly appear anymore, now only Menos and their various classes come even for hunts in the Living World. Not to mention the fact that the children of two nearly deific beings would be absurdly powerful themselves, so I made them real to their situation and the world they were being born into. You'll notice that I've given the other characters I've introduced equally strong abilities, and as for his powers and their potential origin, you'll have to find out in later chapters. I hope most of you realize by now how much I weave my stories together, and I do rely on continuity to help you all understand what's going on or has gone on. So yeah, don't sweat the small stuff. If his powers really bother you that bad, though I loathe to say it, maybe this story isn't for you. I really hope you continue reading though, it's all up to you to see if it gets better or not.

Now, Fusionmix. While I realize Asuka's sudden rebound does seem a bit unexpected, I tried to make the transition believable. I had really had it planned from the start, and it was made as more of a parallel to Ichigo's relationship with Rukia before she figured out the friend there all along was the man she was supposed to be with. With the time skip—and being that I focused more on Kin and Kaien—I suppose that wasn't gotten across as well as it could have been. For that I apologize. And as you said, she inherited a good deal of her mother's more…interesting traits. As for the conflict, well, I always have some sort of turmoil going on, if not in the surroundings than in the characters themselves, but as you noticed—and I can't really deny now that I think about it—much of my stuff does seem slice-of-life-ish with shounen characteristics throughout.

My romantic side comes out in my writing, though I try to keep some kind of conflict throughout. I'm sorry if it isn't to your liking, but I can't really change it now. I'm just going over it again and finessing the wrinkles I missed the first time. This story is already done. I've actually been working on the third installment in the universe, and I can say with certainty that I learned from my mistakes. There's _lots_ of conflict in that one. Soi-Fong is who I'm centering around after all, LOL!

As for everyone else, I can't thank you enough for your encouragement! I make it a point to explain criticisms if I can and if I can't, then I try to improve in the future, so don't think I don't greatly appreciate all those that tell me I've done a great job! Everyone reviewing keeps me uploading this!

If you read to the end of the author's notes, you're amazing! Hopefully it was able to answer any unasked questions as well. Hope to hear from you!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	7. The Darker Side of the Moon

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

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**The Darker Side of the Moon**

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The only person who could possibly have an idea of what was going on in the head of Kaien Kurosaki, was Kaien Kurosaki. At the moment, even he didn't know what on earth he was doing. He liked fighting, after all, the Hollow aspect that would have been within him had instead been fused into him, so in a sense he _was_ a Hollow, to some degree anyway. Fighting with Kisuke and Yoruichi had been fun for a while, but he didn't like the fact that they didn't take him seriously. Urahara did of course, to a certain extent, but eventually he attained a basic understanding of his fighting style, and since he didn't seem to find it worthy to fight any harder, neither did he. That, and he didn't want someone like Kisuke Urahara to gain any more of an understanding of his power than he allowed him, and if they continued fighting, eventually he would let loose just to kill the boredom of the repetitive fighting.

Yoruichi wasn't too hard to fight either, because Kin tried to copy her mother in many ways. Fighting her was like fighting a more experienced, older version of his girlfriend, which was a little disturbing in and of itself. Still, her use of Shunpo and the fact that she herself had _invented_ special styles of Shunpo that completely outdid the original made fighting her a likable challenge. His father had taught him everything he knew about Shunpo, and thanks to his unique reiatsu he was able to use Sonido as well. Even though most people might think they were the same, there were subtle differences in the use and the reiatsu needed to use it, so by combining the two, there was no doubt to the added boost in speed that gave the bearer, especially if used in the more advanced forms.

Pitting him against her was some of the most fun he'd had in a long time.

Even that got boring after a while, and he didn't like having to wait for Kin to come back to the shop before he could see her again. He had spent _five years_ away from her for goodness sake, the only thing he wanted to do was be with her now that he had finally forced himself back.

Thus, it brought him back to his current situation: the end of his second week 'observing' and teaching the class in which his love interest was currently situated. Half of the time he found himself daydreaming—even when it was his turn to teach the class—and the other half of the time he couldn't tear his eyes away from her form as she simply sat there at her desk, not in any way meaning to look provocative. Why he found it so then, he had no idea. He knew what was going through her mind when they kissed, or what was going through her body at the very least.

It was quite obvious she didn't seem to remember the fact that depending on the type and level, Hollows had a varying degree of superhuman capabilities, one of them being their senses. He was the cream of the crop in a sense, something so Hollow he wasn't really a Hollow, which made no sense whatsoever, but that was how the Espada had put it. Chad and Asuka were special too in that regard, because while they were part Hollow, there were different powers within them too that made them different, allowing for them to easily break the limits of any average Arrancar. If _they_ were considered special, one can only imagine then how far enhanced _he_ was, both body and otherwise.

He could _hear_ her heartbeat thundering against her ribcage as it sent blood to all the parts of her body, and the parts of her body that wanted to be more sensitive than they already were. He could _taste_ the pheromones in her saliva as their tongues wrestled with each other as her body prepared it for something every creature did naturally, and that was to gain the attention of a potential mate. He could _feel_ her skin warm and tighten under his touch and the quiver of each and every muscle under it as he roamed his hands down the sides of her face or down her back. He didn't trust himself to touch anywhere else yet. Worst of all, he could _smell_ her arousal as it grew over their time and just the _thought_ of her getting excited because of him was almost too much for him to bear, but smelling it _personally_ had strained the very last strands of his self-control. That was four out of five senses being completely overloaded by her, so what did he have to go and do? Well of course, he had to go and make sure the fifth sense wasn't left out.

_Stupid stupid stupid stupid!!!_

He couldn't _see_ anything during their time because he always had his eyes closed as they kissed, but now that he was sitting in her class he could watch her all day, and permitted to soak in every little detail that was Kin Urahara-Shihouin.

In his defense, it had seemed like a smart idea at the time.

Now the only option he had other than look at her was to look out the window, and then he would be blowing his cover because he wouldn't be watching or helping the class, where of course, she was sitting. He could see each rise and fall of her bountiful chest as she breathed, and the way she curled her beautiful blonde hair around a finger when she was concentrating more than normal on any single question. He could see the gray material of her miniskirt ride up and reveal even more creamy chocolate skin than it usually did if she moved a certain way in her chair, and the way goosebumps broke out on aforementioned flesh if a breeze hit her a certain way or the midwinter air was cooler than average on that particular day. Nothing escaped his gaze, including the hidden glances towards him she made, or the subtle gulp that always came with it. The worse by far was the occasional rub of her legs, which alerted his eyes to use his nose. She _knew_ his eyes were on her, and for some reason he didn't mind that at all.

He knew she wanted him, and if he so much as _thought_ that he didn't want her right back than he would be the biggest hypocrite in existence. He wanted her, oh how he wanted her, but he also wanted it to be special. If she was anything like her mother—which he already knew she was—then she was used to doing whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, but this was something he wouldn't simply allow themselves to lose in the heat of the moment. He had only been back for around a week and a half after all, and no matter what he could sense or what he wanted, he couldn't allow himself to do it, not until he thought it was right. He hated himself for it, he really did, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

The blood within him was boiling for her, urging him to take her and make sure no one else could have her. It wanted her to be his in the most primitive sense, the deepest psychological and physical way possible. Since he was his own inner Hollow, it wasn't some separate entity gnawing at his mind, but it was his very own instincts multiplied by the pure carnal nature of those instincts that had been melded into him. He had an easier time controlling his urges because of the more rational side of both what should have been his zanpakutou and his Soul Reaper side, and that was the side he had taken more to, but that didn't mean he wasn't still partly Hollow in the purest sense of the word.

He shuddered at the thought of what was going to happen when Tsukiyomi found someone she wanted in the physical sense though. She was like him in the fact that all three of her natures had been mixed, but unlike him she edged more to the side of the inner Hollow as her everyday nature, so it was much harder for her to keep a normal front up than it was for him. If the urges he was facing were to ever hit her….

Once again, he shuddered.

Masaki had it the best out of all of them, but then again when someone was as gentle as she was, it was hard to comprehend how powerful she could be when she was in battle.

Thoughts of his younger siblings brought him to thoughts of how they were adapting to the public school life that their father had finally allowed them back into after five years of training. They were still learning, but they had grown into fearfully powerful young teenagers. Like him, they were above average in the intelligence department, but they had been more focused on controlling their abilities than learning about the Living World, so while they were about a grade ahead of their age, they hadn't learned as much as he had. Then again, when someone's lying prone on a bed unable to move like he often was after a long battle, there isn't much else to do other than read. He was thankful they didn't suffer from his unfortunate side-effect, but in terms of raw power they weren't as strong as him, and his abilities far outdid theirs even though theirs were no less powerful and certainly no less awe-inspiring than his were.

The lunch bell rang and knocked him out of his previous thoughts, earning a sigh while he readied himself to get up like everyone else was doing before grabbing their lunches and leaving the room. It never ceased to amaze him how fast the teens were able to react when they knew class was over when minutes before they had looked ready to fall asleep. It hadn't been as hard as he thought to adapt himself to a teacher persona, thought it was unnerving in the sense that he was their age.

As if responding to his prior thoughts like Irony tended to do, he suddenly felt a very strong and very _angry_ reiatsu push down on the air around him. His eyes widened and he quickly straightened up while he looked around and saw that there were more spiritually aware people in the class than he would have first thought. The way they and the teacher were pressed face-first panting on the ground was surefire evidence that they were feeling the reiatsu pushing down on the atmosphere. He knew the reiatsu, and he also knew the basis behind it. For some reason he had been hopeful enough to think that it would happen at home and not at school.

_Don't worry Tsuki! I'm coming!_

It was a dangerous move for him, he knew that, but he also knew Masaki wouldn't be able to hold her off for long without putting even more pressure on the air. He had to get there so she could go and get their father. He was the only one stronger than all of them, and thus he could calm her down. Hopefully they wouldn't be too far gone by the time Masaki finally brought him to them, but there was always the chance that he would be able to fend her off too.

With no further hesitation he jumped off his seat and ran to the door, unmindful to the fact that Kin was following him after pulling herself up off her own seat.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Kojima, I really have to go!" he explained hastily and booked it out the door, where once again Kin followed without giving any kind of explanation at all. He hadn't really needed to say anything, considering it was lunch time, but the odd day he wasn't having lunch with Kin he ate with her, so it was only natural. As they went down the halls they saw other students panting on their hands and knees in the middle of the hall, and the ones that weren't affected were all trying to figure out what was happening to everyone else. The pressure kept rising and he kept picking up his pace, with Kin right behind him. He knew she went to the same school as Kin, so he desperately ran down the hallways to find her class.

Finally, they found her, and just as he thought, she was being restrained against the lockers by her younger twin. She looked absolutely _murderous_ and there was a young teen against the other wall with a bloody nose; a young man that seemed quite terrified at the moment.

"What happened!?" Kin asked, not even sure that who she was talking to was who she thought it was. Kaien had to remind himself that she didn't know the drill when it came to this, otherwise he would have rolled his eyes.

Tsukiyomi's blazing black eyes fixed themselves on Kin and she shrunk back slightly at the way she could see the intense black pigment start to be lightened into an angry yellow while black ink seemed to paint itself over her sclera.

"This guy thought he was good enough to grope me!!" she yelled angrily, and Kaien soon felt his brotherly instincts telling him to applaud his younger sister before he went over to pummel the guy some more. Before that could happen however, the guy who was holding his bloody nose looked over at them in fright.

"I didn't, I swear! I was just walking by and I accidentally brushed by her while she was getting her lunch!" The terror in his eyes suggested he was too scared to tell a lie.

Kaien almost sighed. His little sister must have really been fighting her instincts for a while before this in order for something as explainable as this to have set her off. He quickly reinforced Masaki's hold on her sister with his own, easily done considering he was a good foot taller than them both.

"Come on Tsuki! This guy wouldn't even be a _challenge_ for you to fight!" he said quickly, trying to bring down her urge to fight, the urge that was surely boiling at her insides right then. This wasn't the first time she had snapped like this, but usually their father was much closer and could put out her rage much faster. He could only hope he was feeling her spiritual pressure right now.

"Yeah, calm down Tsuki," Masaki crooned softly as she tried to help her brother hold off the struggling body of her fraternal twin.

"This place is full of weaklings who think they're the greatest!! It's infuriating!! How can you put up with this day after day!?!?" Tsukiyomi screamed, and with that the underlying reason for her hatred was revealed.

Now that he thought about it, for someone as prideful and powerful as his little sister—added to the fact that she was more Hollow than Shinigami or zanpakutou—being around simple humans all the time who were either only slowly gaining spiritual awareness or had none at all, would be quite the task. In Hueco Mundo she could fight anyone and they would gladly fight her back, with no taunt or insult withheld without any lasting damage being done after all was said and done. Here however, that was no longer applicable, and humans were very prideful creatures in their nature, so for someone like Tsukiyomi who was constantly trying to better herself even though she was one of the princesses of Hueco Mundo, that would be incredibly irritating.

Back when her powers had been restrained and she thought she was the same as the rest of them, it had been no big deal, but now she knew there were whole other worlds out there, worlds where there were powers unexplainable to regular humans, and powers she now had. A regular human's boasting would then become quite irritating, he had to admit, now that he looked at it from her point of view. No doubt she had endured that for the past while without so much as a peep, but this last indiscretion pushed her over the edge.

She snarled and bucked against their grip, and finally Kaien got tired of people staring at her like she was a beast.

"Alright, time to take this elsewhere!" With that, he retracted his grip and jabbed his hand into his body before falling to the ground lifelessly as his spiritual form stood in his place. Before that could be processed, he quickly pushed his hands into each of his sisters' bodies and pulled, to Kin's surprise, pulling their spiritual forms out with them before running out the nearest door with them in tow. No lasting damage was done to their bodies, in fact, there wasn't so much as a scratch on them, neither was there one on his own.

Kin gulped as she watched the door swing closed. Kaien had the power to pull souls from their bodies, and his sisters definitely weren't normal either, she could tell that much just from looking at them.

She was barely taller than the two of them, who even in height were exactly the same, but then again she hadn't grown since she was their age either, and she guessed they wouldn't grow anymore than that too. They had both matured to be beautiful, and there were still some parts of them that were going to grow and other parts that were going to curve, she knew that too. Nonetheless, they didn't look any less womanly because of it, they would just look a whole heck of a lot _more_ womanly once those changes were done. Kaien was going to have a couple a gorgeous sisters, that was for certain.

Tsukiyomi was obviously the more hotheaded of the two, but that wasn't reflected in her looks. Her startlingly white hair fell practically to her waist and her narrow black eyes were stunning on the pale face that looked like it was carved by a sculptor even as it contorted in rage. She definitely didn't try to hide her role as a woman, and the Espada-like clothing she had seen as the young teen was pulled away accentuated all of her growing curves magnificently. In her spiritual form however, those narrow black eyes were fiercely yellow and constantly on a backdrop of midnight black, set against skin the palest of alabaster, beautiful in its own terrifying way. She had seen that before she had been towed away.

Masaki on the other hand looked much different from her sister. Her wavy orange hair only came down to her shoulders and her innocent, yet strangely terrifying amber eyes were hidden by lids holding long, beautiful eyelashes that belied the emotion the eyes beneath them could hold. She was almost the exact same build as her sister however, including the growing curves that would surely have men drooling over her one day, more than they did now. Another thing that set her apart from both her sister and her brother was the fact that she was wearing a regular black shihakushou, unlike their contrasting white clothing.

Kin noted that they both had zanpakutous somewhere on their person as well, while Kaien didn't. _Then again, they probably don't have his ability either,_ she thought.

Quickly moving the bodies of the fallen family someplace unnoticeable to the general population and setting them down comfortably instead of lying haphazardly on the floor, the Shihouin princess took off after the brother and sisters.

………

It went without saying that as soon as she had regained her footing and yanked herself out of his grip, Tsukiyomi Kurosaki was one unhappy camper. She instantly went on the offensive without regard of whom she was fighting, and Kaien had to start dodging before she hit him unaware. Luckily he had already been hit by her zanpakutou before, but that didn't really matter because she was using her fists, something that thanks to their mother wasn't really any more of a blessing than if she'd been using her sword. It was in his favor that he had been given the same training and had fought her before.

"Come on Tsuki! Quit it already!!" Thankfully, Masaki had taken off instantly once they were outside to go get Ichigo.

"_**Come on Tsukiiiiiii! Quit it alreadyyyyyy!"**_ Tsukiyomi mimicked back childishly as she sent another punch at his head before jumping up to add a kick to the combo. Her voice had changed to match her spiritual appearance, becoming the voice she always used in her inner-Hollow-esque form. It was the same kind of beautiful yet equally malicious tone used by her mother. _**"You can't hide your feelings from me! I know you've thought the same things!!"**_ she spewed out maliciously, and Kaien could feel the prodding of his more Hollow nature bubble up in agreement.

_Oh shit, she's really doing it!_ He realized in terror. _Masaki, hurry up!!_

He could communicate with the spirits of a Soul Reaper's inner world thanks to the fact that he could talk to zanpakutous even if they didn't have an owner, and in a way Tsukiyomi could do the same thing. She on the other hand, liked talking to the inner Hollow more than the zanpakutou, and though he could do the same thing, he tended not to because of the effects that could have. Tsukiyomi though, she could prod the instincts lying dormant to wakefulness, and he had found that out very quickly after she had started training.

She could literally make him lose control, until his rationale would be gone and his instincts would be the only thing remaining. In other words, he became less than the lowest level of Hollow, because even they retained some of the memories of their old life. He was simply instinct. In that form…he had absolutely no value for life.

He could feel it rising, feel his urge for battle fight against his intelligent mind. He faltered in his defense and she sent a punch to his unprotected face that sent him reeling onto the sandy ground. He knew she would never do this if she was her regular self, but she had been pushed too far in her control and now only her more Hollow urges were pushing her decisions, just like he would if he were pushed to this. Just like she was doing. He gulped heavily and picked himself up off the ground, somehow aware that his glowing yellow eyes were starting to be joined by malicious black lining.

"_**You can't hide it from me Kaien,"**_ she hissed as she licked her lips. _**"I can sense your deepest urges. You want something badly, don't you? You want something so badly the almighty control-freak himself has started to lose that control, am I right? You've been fighting something just like I have, but you're too chicken to do it!!"**_

Kaien was starting to sweat now. He knew what she was talking about, but it was quite apparent she didn't. All she could sense was his urges, because unlike other people he didn't have an inner spirit that could tell her those things. He could feel his heart start to race as his hands started to tremble as she slowly made his other nature rise, and he could barely block her next assault because he was concentrating so much on keeping his consciousness. He could feel the hold he had on his reiatsu start fading, and he knew in a few seconds what he always held inside himself would start breaking out uninhibitedly.

He stumbled away from her as she sent yet another blow towards him. "Tsuki…please…stop…"

It was pointless by that time, and he looked up in fright at the sight of his shorter, younger sister, the person that had him wholly and absolutely at her mercy. _**"I know you want to! Why should I stop??"**_

Thankfully a slightly taller figure suddenly flew out of nowhere and kicked the teenager approaching him in the side, sending her flying away from him and to the ground ungracefully. He looked over in shock to see Kin's Soul Reaper form standing where Tsukiyomi used to, and her face was hardened in her battle scowl. She didn't ask him how he had been so easily overpowered, but he could tell from the way she was looking at him that she knew there was more to the fight than met the eye. Stumbling quickly away from his fallen sister—who had by now picked herself up—he tried to regain control of himself. Gradually, he finally found himself overcoming his carnal desires and his breathing became easier again without the prodding of his sister to allow it more power.

Feeling his reiatsu once again under his control, he turned back to where he had been previously and saw that his sister had since drawn her sword and was fighting Kin, who had drawn her sword as well. They were mere blurs in the air as they fought, with the Goddess of Flash's daughter fighting with all her mother's training behind her. He hadn't fought her since that one time when he had come back, and really that had been more of an opportunity for her to vent than anything else. Now he knew why she was still in school. She had spent all the rest of her time training.

She was literally running circles around his sister and her use of kicks and punches as well as her sword was awing just to look at. She was a trained fighter, but so was his sister, and though four years separated them, Tsukiyomi had the advantage of her special reiatsu and abilities. She laughed off every hit Kin landed and swung back just as viciously as she tried to keep up with her opponent's speed.

"_**Is that all you've got!?"**_ the white-skinned teen taunted as she stopped, and Kin did the same as she faced down her boyfriend's sister.

"Tsukiyomi, you've got to stop this. This isn't you," she tried to rationalize, but the young teen just scowled and threw some of her long hair over her shoulder.

"_**You don't get it, do you? This IS me!! I've wanted to beat on those punks in that class for the last week but I couldn't because of obvious reasons! I tried to be nice to those weaklings! I really did! But no one! Hear me!? NO ONE! Touches me like that unless I give them permission!!"**_

Kin understood to some extent, but she still sighed. "I'm sorry then Tsukiyomi. If you won't stop this, then I hope you can at least forgive me when you wake up."

Promptly throwing off her yellow jacket, the bronzed woman raised an arm to the side while both Tsukiyomi and Kaien watched curiously. With a spark that started at her outstretched fist, the combination of skills that was Shunkou suddenly burst to life on her back, and as they watched the jagged energy dance off her back like the torn wings of an avenging angel, she shot forward in a burst of lightning-laced speed and launched her fist into Tsukiyomi's stomach, sending the younger teen flying into a far-away wall.

Kaien had no doubt a blow like that would have knocked out any regular Soul Reaper or Hollow, and obviously Kin thought this too, because she instantly dispelled the technique and went to pick up her jacket.

Kaien though, knew he and his sisters were no ordinary Soul Reapers or Hollows.

Thus, he was already on his feet and prepared to jump into the young body that suddenly came flying out of the smoke of her impact and right at the surprised face of his girlfriend, but then a body was suddenly right between him and his sister, and she had been stopped like she had hit a wall.

A white wall, to be precise.

In the next instant he felt the reiatsu that went far beyond his own, and it was in his nature to fight with all his might to stay standing, just like he saw Tsukiyomi doing. In the end history repeated itself once more, and he too succumbed to the pressure and was sent to his knees. It wasn't too long after that that he felt the pressure abate and Masaki appeared beside him, as worried as ever over his condition. He looked up at the back of his father and silently rejoiced.

"**Are you feeling calmer now, Tsukiyomi?"** Their father asked in the strange, deep echo of himself that his transformation gave him.

Kin was staring at her boyfriend's father with fear hidden as best she could in her gaze. She had known he was the King of Hueco Mundo, but now she knew why. She hadn't even been able to stand after he had released his reiatsu more than the giant amount already in the air around him. What was more was she had a sinking feeling that wasn't even his full strength either. She did notice the way his daughter looked similar to him at the moment, completely white, with terrifying Hollowized eyes. As she watched, she saw him return to normal, and was silently amazed at his power. She didn't want to get on his bad side anytime soon.

Tsukiyomi hadn't instantly calmed, but after her father's reiatsu had pushed down on her with enough force to send her to her knees and the spirit dwelling within him had been just as scolding as she knew her father was, she had calmed down immediately like the reprimanded child she was. She recognized her parents' power and authority over her, and she knew they only used it when they absolutely had to. Their love for her came before that. When she was pushed to her place like this her rampant instincts were calmed and she regained her sense of self, something that though her instincts seemed to exhibit, it really didn't have. She was almost identical to Kaien in that respect, when she lost control.

Soon she was wrapped in her father's arms lovingly and she started sobbing black tears into the white material of his captain's jacket while she hugged him close to her. _**"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!!"**_

Ichigo stroked the white hair against his shoulder comfortingly. He knew she didn't like losing control any more than any of them did, but she didn't have the same kind of strength to hold it off considering it was the better part of her personality. "I know, I know Tsuki; its okay," he comforted softly.

His children meant the world to him, and somewhere inside himself he hated the fact that he could do nothing more than help calm her down when she got like this. If she just had an inner Hollow then she could beat it and gain complete control over herself, but he had accidentally merged all three of her spiritual entities together just like he had Kaien's, and she opted more on the uncontrollable side than his more controllable one. She wasn't fighting some beast within her soul, she was fighting _herself_ every moment of every day, against what her blood wanted to do and what she had been taught she shouldn't do. It was a constant struggle, and it pained his heart that he couldn't help her any more than this.

Finally, he felt her sobbing relax into mere sniffles and he sat down rather than kneeling like he had been before, allowing her to cuddle closer while she relaxed. This wasn't really behavior one would normally expect from a fourteen year old girl, but it was one of only two ways that could get her to settle down after losing control of herself, as it had been way back when she was nine.

Kaien sat down by them, completely back to normal but for the odd strand of sweat streaking his face here and there. She cast her puffy black eyes on him mournfully. _**"I'm sorry Kaien. I know what I tried…can you forgive me?"**_

The young man smiled and sighed wearily. "I could never stay mad at you, Tsuki, of course I forgive you. Let's be glad Kin was here otherwise Dad would have had a fun time trying to get the both of us to calm down. I don't want to hurt you but I don't know what could've happened if she hadn't been there. A few more seconds and I would've been a goner."

Ichigo scratched his head and exhaled heavily. "Good grief, of all the times for me to be out across town for a run. I'm so used to Tsuki not controlling her reiatsu I thought she was just trying to scare some dumb punk. As for you Masaki, your Shunpo is getting better all the time for you to catch up to me that fast! Good for you!"

Masaki beamed under his praise and Tsukiyomi chuckled as she sat against his chest. "_**Show off**_."

The kind person Masaki was, she stuck her tongue out at her sister, who did exactly the same thing back, the only difference being her oddly colored tongue. "_**I think Kin's better than you though. She even knows Shunkou!**_" the inner-Hollow look-alike said back confidently, obviously trying to deflate her sister's ego, unknowing of the look of surprise on Kin's face at the young girl knowing the name of a technique scarcely known outside her mother and her.

"How do you know what it's called!?" she asked through a dry mouth, and the young teen raised an eyebrow at her from her place still in her father's arms.

"I fought beside your mother during the war against Aizen, I've seen it before," Ichigo explained for his children. "Besides, Byakuya taught them most of the techniques your mother taught him and Kaien uses a variation of that when he fights if he doesn't want to use his zanpakutous." He felt sweat trickle down his neck when he saw that Kin looked like she had just had the wind knocked out of her, and she was staring at them with an open mouth.

"You…you use a variation of Shunkou? I didn't think there was anything like that…" she trailed off ungracefully and she let her head fall down, looking as downtrodden as one could possibly be. She was a master of Shunkou at eighteen, and yet once again Kaien seemed to have outdone her.

"Hey hey hey, none of that," Kaien said as he lifted her chin with his finger so she was looking him in the eyes. "I suck at those techniques Byakuya taught us, and Tsuki's the only one that can get most of them to work right, though Masaki's been getting better. Yeah, I can definitely go faster than regular Shunpo, but I suck at Kidou, so I can't get anywhere _near_ Shunkou. I _did _use the same principle to create a technique of my own, so it's like it in a way."

Kin looked skeptical, but she wasn't going to tell him the soft touch he was giving her felt heavenly, so she moved the hand to her cheek so she could nuzzle it affectionately. "A technique like Shunkou? How did you do that without Kidou?"

"It's Cerokou!!" Masaki blurted out proudly, and wilted back when Kaien glared at her for taking his glory. He looked back at Kin and saw she had since resumed her open-mouth stare, and it was directed solely at him this time.

"_Hollow_ Flash Cry!? You used _CERO_ instead of Kidou!? Are you out of your mind!? Is…is that even possible!?!"

Kaien chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head with his unoccupied hand. "I got it to work somehow. When you use it as much as I do because I don't want to use my swords, you start thinking up different ways to use it. It doesn't give the same counter-kidou effects of Shunkou for obvious reasons, but it gives me the full force of Cero behind my movements to boost my speed and attacks and lets me fire off Ceros at the same speed as Balas, so it's a small price to pay for not collapsing at the end of each fight!" As he looked at her he saw her face morph until she was looking at him with a fond smile and just like he was, she lovingly caressed the side of his face with one of her soft, feminine hands.

"We're apart for five years, and yet we still fight alike," she noted softly. He chuckled as he reveled in the soft yet firm flesh of her hand on his face. God he loved her, and damn if he didn't want her, but it wasn't the time.

Ichigo coughed to gain their attention, and they realized they had been looking into each others' eyes like a couple of lovesick puppies, and right in front of his father no less. "Okay girls, go get your bodies. I'll allow you to take the rest of the day off while I go see what kind of damage control I can do. Any damage done?"

Tsukiyomi's pale face lit up embarrassedly. "_**I…kinda accused some guy of harassing me then almost broke his nose.**_"

The orange-haired captain groaned and let his face fall into his hand. "Okay, _you_, young lady, go home and write him an apology, and I'll go see what I can do about his face before I tell the principal what I'm having you do. We'll discuss anything else later, all right?"

The young teen sighed. "_**Yes Daddy**_."

Ichigo smiled and ruffled her well-kept hair. "Good, now go on you too. With any luck this'll be easily forgotten."

Tsukiyomi and Masaki both smiled and nodded before giving their father a hug and running off to find their bodies so they could go have some fun for the rest of the day. Ichigo sighed as he watched them take off. Being a father was harder than he thought, but he wouldn't trade it for the world. It had been extremely lucky that no Hollows had come in response to her rampant reiatsu though. He turned to Kaien, who now had Kin right beside him.

"As for you two, I don't really know. Kaien, you can leave whenever you want because you shouldn't even be here in the first place…" he enjoyed the blush on his son's face as he said that. "…and I'm not your father, Kin, so I don't really know _what_ you should do other than go back to class. I'm sorry you had to get acquainted with Tsuki's darker side so soon after we've come back, but thank you for your help. If Kaien had lost control too we would've been in big trouble."

Kin blushed at the captain's praise. Kaien really did look very much like his father in most regards, all but the color of his hair, the way he styled it, and his eyes. Otherwise he was almost a spitting image. "Thank you."

"Uh, Dad, hate to break it to you but it was lunch break when this started and the bell hasn't rung yet," Kaien said cockily.

"Oi! Listen, Squirt! You may be taller than your old man now but you should still respect your elders!" Ichigo replied jokingly.

"Just like you and Byakuya?" the same kind of joking reply came.

At that Ichigo rubbed his head. "Hehe, got me there. Ah what the heck, I don't care. You want to take your girlfriend out for lunch then go ahead, but don't blame me if Hat-and-Clogs gets on your case!" And with that, he took of in a burst of reiatsu to go get his body so he could come back and do the promised damage control.

After he was gone, Kin looked over at Kaien approvingly. "Your parents are still as carefree as ever."

He chuckled. "Nah, they just tolerate it because we've all worked our butts off to get where we are today. But yeah, they're pretty carefree, mostly because they were just like us when they were younger so we have something to hold over their heads!"

They both laughed at that. If _he_ had something to hold over the heads of his parents, she had even more. She _was_ the daughter of Soul Society's rebels after all.

"Well, let's go get our bodies. I remember being hungry before this little debacle, and I _was_ thinking of taking out my girlfriend…"

She smiled and elbowed him in the ribs playfully. "What if I told you she already had plans?"

He smiled right back and eyed the black scarf still around her neck, the spiritual copy of the physical thing, something possible only because of who he was. "Hmm…I think I'd be able to talk her out of it somehow…" he whispered back confidently as he slowly edged nearer, and she was only able to gulp slightly before he had captured her mouth with his and pushed her to the ground.

Letting loose a disappointed moan when he pulled away, she still licked her lips contently nonetheless. "Where to, oh dearest boyfriend of mine?"

He chuckled again. "See? I knew I could make her see it my way."

Then her hand reached up and snaked behind his neck, until it pulled him rather unexpectedly back into her lips.

She had just decided she wasn't going to let him have his way without some more _convincing_ first.

………

They arrived back at his home later in the day, and for once Kin had accompanied him back. To be fair, it was Friday, so she was allowed more freedom in terms of any kind of curfew, not like her parents had ever imposed one on her. Yoruichi Shihouin didn't even know what the word 'curfew' meant. It seemed like too long to the mocha-skinned woman since she had last stepped foot in their home, and it was exactly like she remembered it five years before.

It was warm and inviting, and the smell of fresh baking permeated the air. Kaien found that rather strange, since while his mother had become an amazing cook after learning from Orihime Ishida of all people, she didn't bake very often. He could smell something underneath, like the smell was meant to hide something, and it was doing a very good job of doing it. His mother knew all of her children's abilities, and she knew just how to thwart them too, so he knew if she ever wanted to hide something from them, she definitely could. Thus, each step he took was taken with suspicion as he tried to discern the underlying smell, and needless to say Kin didn't understand why he was sniffing the air every few steps like he was a bloodhound.

"What are you doing?" she asked unknowingly, and Kaien turned to look at her after taking another sniff of the air.

"I'm trying to figure out what smell my mom's trying to hide with her baking. I can smell it, I just can't figure it out because of the other scents mixed in the air," he explained like it was the simplest thing in the world before he resumed his walking.

Kin was stupefied. "Wha…? I don't smell anything."

Kaien stopped short, and she could have sworn she saw a knowing smirk on his face before he turned back again. "Of course you wouldn't, but me, Tsuki, and Masaki would. Part of our Hollow nature is enhanced senses, so if we wanted to we could smell out the path a Hollow took just by scent alone, and it applies to humans as well. Basically, our five senses can't even be compared to regular Soul Reapers' or even regular Hollows', so Mom's definitely trying to hide something, I just can't figure out what."

He could practically _see_ the realization hit her, because her genius mind didn't take too long to figure out the consequences of his words. He had to commend her though, she didn't blush or even look mortified like he might have thought, and instead she managed to keep a surprisingly straight face. For some reason the small smirk on her face scared him more than any of those other reactions could have.

_I'll have to remember that,_ she thought wickedly.

"What could your mom be hiding though?" she asked, trying to veer the course of the conversation back onto something that didn't imply he had very intimate knowledge of her arousal.

Kaien took another long breath in, and sighed as he let it loose. "The closest thing I could relate it to is…sickness. To be absolutely honest it smells like vomit, but it's stale. It happened a while ago, that's certain, and obviously in another part of the house, from the weak strength of it, but its definitely there."

"Is your mom sick? Your dad looked fine earlier so it can't be him."

Kaien shrugged. "Normally I wouldn't really care; since Dad's a full ranking honorary member of the Fourth Division and every once in a while he had some patients here back before we went to Hueco Mundo. The only reason I can't understand it is because it smells like Mom, but I can smell her from here, and she doesn't seem to be in any physical discomfort, but her smell doesn't seem exactly right either. It's strange…"

"Here's an idea Sherlock, why don't we go and ask her?" she asked sarcastically, and Kaien glared half-heartedly at her.

"Go and spoil my fun why don't ya," he mock-pouted, something that looked maybe a bit too charming considering his deep bass voice and tall frame that showed he was anything _but_ a child. She rolled her eyes and started walking down to the source of the heavenly scents, and after shaking his head in resignation, Kaien followed.

"Hot damn…" he muttered disbelievingly as they entered the kitchen.

Tatsuki had really gone all out, and there were at least twelve apple pies cooling off on the table. That particular pie was her favorite, and that taste had been handed down to her children. They were lucky if one pie made it past a half an hour in their house. Her homemade apple pies were famous in Hueco Mundo.

He heard the door open and close and two sets of feet make their way inside, and from the reiatsu in the air it appeared that his sisters had finally returned home after doing who-knows-what for the remainder of the day they had been given off. He heard them do the exact same thing he had done, and eventually their footsteps came close enough for him to know they were nearing the kitchen.

"Hey Kai, do you sme—Holy crap…" Tsukiyomi trailed off ungracefully as she spied the many desserts on the table.

"It's official; Mom's hiding something," Masaki proclaimed as she set her hands on her hips.

Kin was flabbergasted. "You smelled it too!? What the heck is wrong with you people, can't you just think maybe she got a bit sick then decided to do some baking?" Even as the words came out of her mouth she decided they sounded ridiculous, and from the way the family members around her were looking at her they thought the same thing. "Okay, never mind me then."

A sudden rumble shook the house and startled them all, but only for a second. Tsukiyomi looked up thoughtfully. "Wow, I haven't felt this reiatsu in a while. Guess Mom and Dad thought they were overdue for a full-out match."

Again, Kin was confused. "This is pretty strong reiatsu. They could seriously hurt each other."

Masaki laughed. "Our house has reiatsu inhibitors so Dad's reiatsu doesn't bring Hollows here every time he forgets to control it. It feels like they were fighting in the air, but Dad just got pounded to the ground obviously. He must be having the same thoughts we are, because the last time Mom's Bankai got him like that he was seriously distracted. If you think this is strong, than you should take a step outside and feel the reiatsu firsthand. When they get like this even some of the Vastro-Lorde's have a hard time keeping on their feet!" she laughed.

Kin gulped. At least _her_ parents had some control over their reiatsu. Her father had gradually increased his output as part of her training to get her used to higher spiritual pressures, but the reiatsu that had pushed down on her when the orange-haired King and captain came to their rescue was more than even she had trained to deal with. It was frightening to think of how casually their kids talked about it. Not to mention the fact that they were talking about the highest release a Soul Cutter could do.

The sounds of battle died out, and suddenly they heard an excited male voice cry out in joy before it started laughing, and was joined by a pleasant feminine tone doing exactly the same. Deciding quickly that this was something they had to see, they all ran to the nearest set of doors that would put them closest to the sources of reiatsu, and lo and behold, they found Ichigo twirling Tatsuki around in his arms while he laughed in joy before hugging her close to him.

Now that they were closer to the source, and outside, away from the distractions of the cinnamon and spices of the pies, Kaien and his siblings were able to get a more accurate read of the scent their mother was giving off. It was strange to be sure, definitely different from her regular, but only slightly, and it would only be noticeable if one knew her scent unequivocally and could discern any deviations from that norm. Even her reiatsu seemed strange, like there was something else…

As if in unison, their eyes shot open as wide as they could possibly go, which was pretty comical because of the more narrow and seductive eyes that Kaien and Tsukiyomi had, which weren't really meant to be opened that wide at any given time.

"You've…" Masaki began.

"Gotta be…" Tsukiyomi continued.

"Kidding me," Kaien finished.

Kin looked between the three with confusion written all over her face. "What!? What's going on!?"

It seemed the two adults had finally noticed their presence, and they turned towards them with happy smiles on their faces as they beckoned to their children. The three in question didn't move however, they simply stayed there staring, until eventually the same smiles broke out on their faces as well.

"YOU'RE PREGNANT!?!?!" They all exclaimed at once, and their mother nodded at them happily.

"I knew the pies wouldn't throw you off for long," Tatsuki admitted with a yielded sigh. As if that was the cue, the three unfroze and ran to their parents, taking the same joy as them in the announcement of another family member.

Kin gulped again. She would never question the senses of the three Kurosaki children ever again. She watched as her boyfriend picked up his mother and hugged her to him and the way the younger girls the same height as their mother just gave her hugs. There was no fear, just joy. No resentment, jut happiness

Something told her Kaien would make a very good father one day.

_That_ was when she blushed.

………

**Author's Notes:** Ah yes, I enjoyed writing this chapter. It's rather funny, because on the twentieth I wrote and posted the first chapter of a new story, and CetraTezirit, a reviewer from both this story and What The Eyes Can't See, commented on how skillfully written it was compared to these two. I laughed when I read that, because I _had_ said when I first started posting WTECS that it's been done for almost three years now. A New Window is nearing the one year mark from completion as well. On the same note: I read over the next couple of chapters after this, and after all the editing I've done so far, I think I may have my work cut out for me. It'll be so much easier when I get to the later chapters, because by that time my writing had grown enough to make more lengthy transitions. As the next few are…ugh. All the reviews I had back then loved them, but nonetheless I think I can make them better. Hopefully I can get them done in the same amount of time I've been usually updating this story.

So, you can expect a marked difference in my writing between this story and its third installment, heck, these chapters and their later brothers and sisters! I use the experience to grow as a writer, so it goes without saying my writing style has evolved over time. Well, I hope you continue to enjoy my stuff nonetheless!

(As for Cerokou, I know, terrible combination of both Spanish and Japanese, but hey, if you were a thirteen year old kid with superpowers, you wouldn't care about the proper grammar of naming a cool technique, would you? It was funny, and it fit, so I put it in there.)

Thank you everyone who reviewed once again!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	8. Quincy Archer Loves You

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**LEMON CHAPTER!!**

**.**

**Quincy Archer Loves You**

**.**

She had never thought she would be in this situation, at least, not with this person. Still, everything she was was on fire, and he hadn't even done anything yet. She simply stood there, petrified, as she looked down on the kneeling form of the man in front of her, bowing like one would before a queen.

She tried to remember how this had come about.

.

Asuka Jaegerjaques had always thought the eldest child of Uryuu Ishida to be someone that took too much after his mother. Sure, he could destroy any target set out to him, and Hollows were no better off, but he always had a weakness when that came to Arrancars, because unlike regular Hollows, they had human faces. The only thing that offset that was the vaporization they all underwent after they had been purified, but for the moments leading up to that, it was like he had killed a human. She had never thought such a man could be under his soft exterior, but it was his soft exterior that made him so unassuming.

Honestly, she had never expected anything, but thinking back, everything made sense. She talked with Kaien, braided his ponytail, shared his secrets, and she was proud to say he was one of the ones that knew her best. Souken Ishida was a friend, not someone she had considered Partner material at the time, but he was always there. He was the one she trained with, he was the one she trusted to push her to her limits without incapacitating her completely; he was the one that was never busy whenever Kaien was.

He knew her, knew how she fought, knew how she felt, knew how she lived. For a Quincy, living in Hueco Mundo would be a test of virtue, but he had practically been raised there. His morals were strong, but he could accept the humanity the Arrancars displayed, and played with the smaller ones like they were human friends. He was a gentle soul, much like his mother, but when he truly got serious even Ryuuken Ishida would be hard-pressed to intimidate him.

Spending time with him was second nature, she thought nothing of it. If she could handle Kaien, Asuka had no problem befriending anything else. He was a particularly fun case, because he had his mother's naivety and his father's lack of immunity to innuendo. All throughout it though, she had never once noticed the ache hidden behind his dignified glasses. She really should have, come to think of it nobody _except_ someone in love would be _that_ available. No one would sit down and listen to her pine away over a one-sided love, no one would make sure his arrows never quite hit her as hard as they could, no one would make her clothes at her request and have them done the next day.

When it came right down to it, no one could equal Souken Ishida in her life, and while the same could be said of Kaien, now she knew that what she had with him was indeed a childhood bond. What she had with Souken was something entirely different, something entirely _right_.

Under normal circumstances she wasn't one to wait for anything. She took what she wanted if she wanted it but since they had become a couple Souken had adamantly denied her. What was more, he had instead turned the tables on her. It had only been a couple of weeks since his initial claim over her had spread through Hueco Mundo, but those few weeks were a very long time, at least when she realized that they had had a lifetime together and done _nothing_. She was angry at herself for missing something so obvious right in front of her, and it wasn't hard to reciprocate his feelings once she grasped the fact that she had had them all along for the softhearted Quincy.

Needless to say they had faced many angry Arrancars that had been waiting for their chance to show her their superiority. She had scoffed of course, and prepared to take them on for even _questioning_ her choice in her chosen male. It wasn't to be, for when a hand placed itself on her shoulder to stop her she had turned back in confusion to look at him, and instantly wished she hadn't. It was the first time she could remember that his magnificent midnight-blue eyes had been as cold as his grandfather's. The raw emotion and soft understanding that always radiated from his eyes had been condensed and hardened into a shell of burning hatred, directed solely at the beings that had issues with his right to court her.

It was then that her epiphany had been taken to new heights, and she realized that he had wanted her for far longer than she had wanted Kaien. All their time together, all the sidelong glances and moonlit conversations had led to this one moment. Behind the slim glasses that fit his intelligent Quincy personality, his eyes spoke of one promise: I _love_ you. I'll never let you go.

She, and many other Arrancar for that matter—including her father—had watched in morbid fascination as the rekindled hope for the Quincy race tore into his opponents with an anger behind the surgical precision of his strikes that to be completely honest, scared the living, unholy hell out of her.

He seemed to be mere static in the air as he used the spiritron-moist environment to its full potential, gliding at inhuman speeds through the enemies that had decided to face him. Most of the time they didn't even know what had hit them before they evaporated, the strikes were just that fast. There was another aspect that threw her off, one that she hd never seen before, and that happened when he stuck his hand straight into the Hollow hole of one of his enemies and without even activating his bow, they had watched as he looked straight into his foe's eyes as he cried out and was purified. There was a twisted intimacy behind that last act that scared her, because Souken had never looked at any of the Arrancars he had killed in the past. The last image burned into that Arrancar's soul was the burning fury of a gallant Quincy, fighting for his love.

He wanted everyone to know that when it came to her, he would do anything.

Not a sound came after the battle was done; not a single, tiny, noise. Even breathing seemed to be off-limits as the spectators took in the view of the finished battle. The scene seemed bathed in ethereality: spiritrons and smoke wafting up from the floor as the single survivor stood calmly in the middle, his glowing blue bow pulsing softly from his wrist and setting his body and face in a gentle oceanic aura. His white shirt didn't have so much as a speck of dirt on it, and his dark blue pants with traditional Quincy boots were exactly the same. Without a sound his bow deactivated, and he had started walking over to where she had stood standing, paralyzed.

She had never noticed how much taller he was than her before, but the slim archer had at least three inches on her, as seemed to suddenly stand out much more prominently than before when he stopped in front of her. Her breathing was coming in shallow pants and it was with all the willpower she had that she was able to keep it quiet. No, she wasn't afraid, exactly the opposite. In that moment she had never wanted another being more than she wanted him. But once again, he surprised her.

To her utmost shock, the chivalrous Quincy—one duty-bound to kill and _hate_ Hollows—knelt on one knee in front of her and of all things, raised the hand that housed his Quincy medallion over his heart in the gesture of _fealty._

"I, Souken Uryuu Ishida, swear myself by the honor and pride of the Quincy to you, Asuka Jaegerjaques. Before I allow anything of my own doing to come between our relationship, I would sooner take my own life. This is my promise to you, do you accept me?"

For the first time in her life Asuka Jaegerjaques had been rendered speechless.

.

Thus, her current situation.

.

He had basically just proposed to her. The man that had held off her physical advances for _weeks_ for no discernable reason had, in no uncertain terms, just pledged his body and love to her. She had wanted him for the past God-only-knows, and he had to do this while they were surrounded by others. She could feel her sex throbbing, she could feel her arousal stealing her breath and tightening her skin as her nipples started hardening in desire. The man in front of her had done nothing of the physical nature in any way, shape, or form to do this to her and yet she had become aroused beyond any explainable term. She could _smell_ it. She knew if _she_ could, others could too. She was in full view, and she could barely control herself.

To her Hollow nature, what he had just done was more of an aphrodisiac than anything else. He had just shown her in plain sight that he was more than capable of protecting her and any young they might have, as well as even expressing that in all seriousness he may even be able to battle _her_ on even ground. After he had done all that, the powerful human that loved her had just knelt down and proclaimed that he belonged to her and her alone, and he would even leave his own life if he hurt her. He had essentially just shown her that though he was likely stronger than her, he loved her, and was willing to be weak enough to show it.

She stayed like that for a while, stiff as a board while she tried to get up the motor control needed to move without impulsively throwing herself at the man that had yet to get up from his position. She didn't know if she wanted to kill him for embarrassing her like this or make love to him until neither of them could see because she loved him so much. Her heart felt swollen with pride and adoration for the man in front of her. He had waited for her, he had fought for her, and he had sworn himself to her. He was a human, and yet he had made sure he respected the customs of Hueco Mundo like he was a member of it.

Then he looked up at her, and Asuka felt sweat so hot it was cold break out on her skin. His eyes were back to what they usually were, soft and gentle, completely unguarded, and there wasn't a hint of impatience reflected in them. She could see herself in his glasses, her chest bouncing erratically as she tried to fight off her panting breaths while her stunning blue eyes had pupils that had been reduced to practically nothing. If she were being her usual self, she would have thought she looked damn good right then even though it looked like she was ready to jump the first thing she saw, though her eyes never left his form.

"Am I accepted?" he repeated softly

Asuka barely heard him over the sound of her own pulse pounding against her ears. Right then the only thing her mind was pondering was how long it would take her to rid him of every article of clothing he was currently wearing.

"I can smell ya all the way over here, just answer the damn question already," an irritated voice suddenly said and snapped her out of her fantasies.

She looked over sharply and gulped when she saw her father standing on the upper balcony, her mother right beside him. Though he sounded irritated, she could see the warmth in his eyes that was reserved only for her, her mother, and Orihime Ishida. Her mother was right beside him, smiling warmly and leaning up against her husband. Though the fact that her arousal had been smelled by her _father_ of all people was beyond awkward, that she had their approval was what finally broke her silence. Without skipping a beat, she turned back to the man that had demonstrated an inhuman amount of patience and nodded happily. She wanted to add her usual comical flair to it but all she could muster was mind-numbing happiness.

"Yes." It came out as a whisper, something almost too pathetic for Asuka to believe it was her own voice, but it was loud enough for him to hear.

He smiled and stood up confidently, and with a tender touch gently caressed the bone fragment of her jaw as he looked straight into her eyes lovingly; not in the least bit embarrassed like he usually was over looking people directly in the eyes. Her eyes fluttered under the seemingly non-existent touch and then his lips were upon her, coaxing any rational thought that she had just regained out of her mind. Her need came back with a vengeance, and she quickly turned the soft kiss he had initiated into a passion filled tangle of tongues. She ran her hands through his hair uninhibitedly, practically pleading him to get them away from this place before she lost all control right in front of everyone.

The way he responded to her force was just like before, and that was to completely outdo her as he released more of the bottled-up need he had been repressing ever since his body had found out it had hormones. The slender fingers running through his silky hair and caressing his scalp unwittingly felt absolutely heavenly; and how she was pushing her body against his in a way that made him feel everything that was Asuka Jaegerjaques rub against him was quickly shutting down any higher brain functions the young man might have once had.

He had finally succeeded in acting like a calm, collected Quincy and it hadn't even been an act at all. He had been pissed, though he had expected that there were others vying for her favor, he wasn't going to allow that to happen any time this millennium. Not after he finally had her. The way she acted around him the following weeks had been enough to seriously tempt his self-control, and he knew if he wasn't married or engaged to her in the next week he was going to do something very dishonorable to the feisty kitten that had done everything but outright strip for him. Somehow he had managed to promise himself to her without stuttering once, and he would have applauded himself on his performance was the young woman in his arms not currently running her feline-rough tongue around his mouth invitingly.

He was so close to her he could feel the muscles of her abdomen twitch in need, _and_ the absolute heat radiating from between her legs as it was pushed with growing force against his own rising arousal. She had accepted his claim, so he felt no need to hold back anymore. Aware of the situation they were still in, he quickly made use of Hirenkyaku to spirit them away to what had been designated as his area of Las Noches.

Being friends with the royal family of Hueco Mundo had _some_ perks.

Their kiss had only been broken for a few sloppy breaths every now and then and with his control teetering dangerously on the edge, he slammed them against one of the walls of his home. Of course, that in turn pushed them closer together and their arousals became painfully obvious to the both of them. She had locked her ankles behind his waist when he had taken them away from their previous location, and her burning core was so close to his clothed erection he wanted to scream in frustration. He tried to stumble them to the bedroom as they rubbed against each other almost viciously, but it wasn't to be.

Asuka had been pushed too far. She was too hot and bothered to even _consider_ letting this go on any further. With a low purr that rumbled along her chest and made her nipples harder than they already were when the shockwaves rubbed their chests together, she pulled her lips away from him. Moving her hands from his neck to the middle of his dress shirt, she ripped the fabric from his body without a second thought and delighted in the sound of the buttons bouncing on the smooth floor like marbles. Forget being mad, Souken was grateful, and he shrugged the loose garment off hastily.

He could always fix it later.

Despite every chivalrous gene in his body that was telling him to slow down, he couldn't stop, and Asuka definitely had no problems with that. In fact, she was _encouraging_ him. With a feral growl that Asuka could hardly believe had come from his vocal cords, Souken tore away the little material she called a shirt and came to the knowledge that his claimed wife—or Partner, as most Hollows referred to them—didn't like wearing bras. Considering how tight her shirt was, it wasn't like she really needed it anyway. He was struck breathless when the two perfectly formed mounds were revealed to his sight, but his selfish mind wanted more. He wanted more of her revealed to him, more of her against him, he wanted nothing between them. He wanted to be in her so badly it was like a drug withdrawal.

Asuka took the unspoken cue and simply ripped off her pants and sandals, throwing her zanpakutou to the side in an amazing display of flexibility since she was still pinned to a wall by him. She felt Souken's breath catch in his throat, and a reverberating groan was issued from said male when he realized she didn't like underwear either and her completely exposed womanhood was pressed against his erection, obstructed by only a few thin layers of fabric that he cursed with his entire being.

"I need you, oh god I need you now!!!" Asuka moaned against him while they once again collided their mouths together. His goddess was completely naked and wrapped around his body, and yet in his sense of fashion he had to wear pants that were practical to fight in while still being formal. In other words: a pain in the ass to remove. He kicked off his lace-less boots shoddily, causing even more friction between their bodies and sending the woman currently held by him into tremors as her glistening sex was rubbed directly against the material of his pants. Trusting one hand to leave her hips, he grabbed the waistline of the two layers of material still left on him and instinctively tuned in on the spirit particles located at the seams. Cutting them with a Quincy's precision he was easily able to yank both his boxers and pants from his body in one pull, punctuated by loud rips as it was desperately torn away.

The panther child moaned loudly when her bare flesh finally met his and the liquid that had been running down her legs made his hips wet. She wanted him so much, and she wasn't willing to wait any longer. Her hand made its way between them and grabbed the hardened flesh of his erection, already slick with her juices. Groaning lowly when her soft hand wrapped around the most sensitive part of his anatomy, her eyes blazed with lust when she heard her soon-to-be-lover's masculine moan. With ease she directed him to her opening and in one last spurt of playfulness, rubbed him tauntingly along her slit. That was probably a tactical error, because it caused her almost as much torment as it did him.

With his tip set teasingly against her, she leaned up as high as she was able and nipped at his earlobe, trying to swallow her gasp as each little bit of height she gained caused him to inch further into her. With a sensual lick of her rough cat-like tongue to his ear, she whispered, "In me. _Now._"

He was all too happy to comply.

In an instant he was embedded in her, in so deep he could feel each breath she took through their intimate connection, and painfully aware of the way her entire body had tensed as he took the proof of her innocence. Despite his frenzied state, he moved his head from her shoulder and looked into her face, where her tightly clenched eyes had traces of tears lining their lids. Hurt that he had caused her pain, he tenderly wiped the tears away and kissed her gently, extremely relieved when she slowly started kissing him back and her body relaxed into his.

It was done. They were one.

Finally, his mind seemed to catch up with his body and he was promptly overloaded by the feel of her silken sheath wrapped tightly around him. The breath that had already been stolen by her beautiful body showed no signs of coming back anytime soon. Nothing in the world could be used to describe her, but he had already known that before he had engaged in this act with her. He was inside her, making the most intimate form of connection two of the opposing sex can create. Her inner walls were rippling around him and despite all the gentlemanly voices in his head that told him to take it slow, he found he couldn't control his body. He pulled back fully and gasped at the feel of her tight heat wrap around him as if not wanting to let him go, and he obliged her seconds later by ramming back in with full force, causing both of them to let loose a loud scream of undiluted pleasure.

"Do that again," she ordered breathlessly.

He didn't need to be told twice. Now instinct had taken over the two virgin teens and their cries of passion and lust hung in the air like decorations as the sound of the two sweaty bodies meeting each other resounded like an off-beat rhythm. There had been scarcely any foreplay, but the love and need of the two made the act easy, almost violent. There was no desire for foreplay in this situation, this was the desperate attempt to get as close as possible to the one they loved, the one that could arouse them to this point without even trying.

She screamed, she screamed each and every time he rubbed inside her. She dug her fingers into the wall to give her some leverage and pushed down with all her might, trying to meet each of his thrusts with as much power as she possibly could from this position. By doing this her chest was thrust out and her back was bent to an almost impossible angle, but it made him go so much deeper than it had before she could barely breathe. His skilled fingers were digging into her hips as he helped lift and pull her back down onto him, and she was loving every minute of it. Mangled versions of his name escaped her lips in their passion and he didn't deny her what he felt of his own pleasure, and the repeated mantra of her name made her feel extremely gratified in herself.

It was too much for him. He wasn't going to last. The object of both his love and his lust was his, and right now he couldn't feel anything but their connection. Her bountiful breasts were jutted out and bouncing right in front of his face, and he couldn't stop himself from leaning forward and capturing a nipple in his mouth as he tried to keep their pace as vicious as it had been before. Her gasp at his action and the renewed moans told him he was doing something right, so he decided to put his _other_ ability to use.

Normal humans would have lost all conscious thought to pure mindless lust right then, but Souken Ishida was no normal human. No, he was a _Quincy_. He wasn't just a Quincy either, he had been birthed by a woman who had the power to defy Time itself. He hadn't gained that particular ability, but it _had_ done something to his spiritron-manipulating ability. Concentrating what little sense he had left, he could feel the spiritrons flowing through the muscles and nerves of the woman he was in. They were as erratic as her blood flow, going to the places that were the most sensitive and making any contact unbearable to the pleasure center of her brain. With more of a strain, he managed to sync to that flow, and with a wicked smirk, gently bit the nipple he had been worrying into hardness as he redirected her spirit flow at the same time.

She screamed so loudly he could have sworn she had released her zanpakutou, but thankfully it also had the other desired effect, and that was for her climax to overtake her and overtake her _hard_. He was unprepared for the sheer strength of her walls milking him for all he was worth as the lust poured out of her, and in those orgasmic muscle fluctuations Souken lost the last of his control. Biting his lip to keep himself quiet, he shook within her and surrendered to his own world of bliss.

After what seemed like an eternity later they slumped against the wall, her still surprisingly supported by him as gravity leant them enough force to keep them upright by leaning them against the solid pale wall.

With a moan of contentment that had him hardening again, she kissed the side of his neck lovingly. "Just what in the unholy levels of hell did you do to me?" she asked as strongly as she could while she reveled in the wet heat inside her. She snuggled up into the hard body by which she was currently supported, her long neon-blue hair pasted to her back from her sweat.

He gave a breathless laugh as he mustered what strength he had left and leaned over to kiss her mask-fragment, which had her shiver on his once again hard organ. "I Rejected your body's control of its spiritrons and made its flow my own. So say, if I wanted to make something particularly sensitive…" Now wanting to make her as re-aroused as he was, he concentrated her flow to the slippery pearl located between them and reached his hand down to give a gentle rub to her clitoris.

The reaction he received was quite violent.

Her eyes practically bugged from their sockets and she bit down on the first thing available to stop her wail of bliss, which just so happened to be the shoulder that was right in front of her as the pure molten lightning shot through her veins like a flash-fire. He stiffened when her sharp teeth dug into his flesh but another weird twinge went through him with it, and he found it strangely erotic. Had he not just climaxed, he had the feeling that he would have instantly done so again. He still yelped though. Soon after, he felt her rough tongue licking the wound she had unwittingly made to clean it and she was purring contently as she did so. He noted with interest that he had given her a miniature orgasm just from that, which was more than a little boost to his male ego.

"So that's what you did to that guy," she murmured offhandedly as she licked up his blood and reveled in the post-coital glow making her muscles tremble every few seconds, just in aftershocks of the initial explosion. She didn't even notice he was moving until she was unexpectedly put down with him still over her on the soft blue sheets of his bed.

"Yeah. I Rejected his body's control over his spiritrons and cut their ties to each other that kept him together. I basically Rejected his body's existence, and off he went to Soul Society."

Even though Asuka had just went through a number of mind-blowing, quivering orgasms, the shudders that seemingly simple remark evoked were not from arousal, they were from _fear_. If Souken wanted to, he could simply Reject the existence of anything he wanted to. She had made a good choice in her chosen male, and soon she found herself once more aroused by his hidden but frightening power. Looking up into his eyes from her daydreaming, she saw that they were looking at her affectionately, like the world itself resided in her eyes.

"Thank you Asuka, thank you for everything you are. I love you, I love you so much."

She smiled softly and pulled off his glasses before reaching up again and pulling him down for a tender kiss that wasn't nearly as fierce as their others; it was soft and gentle, touching, meant to convey love, not need. "I love you too. I wouldn't have accepted you if I didn't."

He returned her smile gratefully. "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear those words."

She chuckled breathlessly. "I think I have a bit of an idea. That poor wall didn't stand a chance."

He blushed endearingly and she nearly laughed outright at him, but then he gently rocked his body and reminded her that she was still quite intimately joined with him. She only threw her head back into the covers and moaned.

"That…wasn't exactly how I had envisioned our first time. I guess I wanted you too badly to control myself."

She gave a low purr and rolled her hips, reigniting their nerves with the pure friction of their love. "I wouldn't have let you take your time. You were mine the second I said yes, and if you had even _tried_ to take your time, I would have held you down and had my way with you until you came at me exactly the same way."

He smirked. "Well, at least now I have the chance to try again."

She barely had the time to answer him, and he didn't let her. Soon the only sounds her vocal chords could make were moans, and after they too had been exhausted, all she had were purrs.

Needless to say, Souken Ishida was a happy, happy boy.

………

She loved watching him almost as much as she knew he loved watching her. With children her figure had curved even more, and her training honed those curves to inhuman perfection. She loved the way he approached everything in a calm, analytical manner that betrayed nothing of his emotions. He was her polar opposite in almost everything, and that was probably the reason why she had found herself so inescapably drawn to him. She was blunt in everything, but in her younger years she would have sooner punched someone than admitted that she could like a boy like any other girl.

When she had met him he had acted no differently than he always did, even though by that age she had become something that made most males she met turn into bumbling messes when trying to talk to her. That was what had first drawn her to him. She would much rather fight than talk in any situation, but most of the men around her only wanted to talk because they didn't believe a girl that looked like that could be a fighter. The thing was with him, she knew she didn't have a chance in hell of beating him even though she had never crossed swords with him before. His calm demeanor and seemingly arrogant inexpressiveness towards her was exactly what he showed to everyone else. He treated her no differently, and that was what drew her to him.

He hid his emotions inside, she knew it. Though he may seem to be a cold wall, he probably had more emotions than most Arrancars. However, he hid them within. He had to. When he released his zanpakutou those emotions would come flooding to the surface and he would turn into something terrifying; a walking, breathing, killing machine. His power was overwhelming at times, and because of that, he was forced to suppress his emotions else he destroy everyone around him.

He didn't want to though. She had found that out all too acutely once she had broke through his near impenetrable shell. She knew he loved her. He would say the words just to let her know it, but he was unused to facial expressions. On their honeymoon she had finally got him to let go of himself and love her like she knew he could. All she could remember was her screams, but they weren't screams of pain. It had felt like everything she was had been driven together under his assault and it drove her wild

She hadn't been able to walk for two whole days after that though. Not like it mattered, because they spent those days in bed too.

Still, she admired him as he did everything in the same composed manner. Even if it was lovemaking, he would fully undress and fold his clothes meticulously before he would turn to her, as he was doing now. He was short, but that was a good thing because so was she. His almost unhealthily pale skin glowed ethereally in the dim light of the room and cast sculpted shadows over his muscles in their depth. His toned skin was showed off far too little under all the clothing he wore, but he wouldn't look the same if he didn't have the traditional yet formal white wear on. She trailed her eyes up his muscled legs to his proud erection, where they stayed for a bit longer than she had meant, but then they continued up his flawless abdomen to where his tattoo and Hollow hole resided until at last landing on his face. It was as expressionless as ever, but his eyes held the warmth he only showed her and their children. She had never been bothered by the fact that his hair was as long as hers, and she had no trouble with his almost reptilian eyes. He was the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on.

She got up off the bed and watched as his eyes followed her, until with careless motions she simply discarded her shihakushou and other bindings over into the corner of the room. He grunted in mild amusement at the action so unlike his but a small smirk accompanied it. She knew he loved everything about her, otherwise he wouldn't have married her. At least, what passed for marriage in Hueco Mundo.

Then he stepped towards her, and she felt her heartbeat speed up just at the thoughts of what he was going to do to her. She saw him stop and take a heavy sniff in through his nose as he closed his eyes like it was fine perfume. She knew what he was taking his time to smell though; it was her. His eyes reopened and fixated themselves on her with a heated stare and she gulped when he was finally in front of her. They were both short, but he still had at least two centimeters on her. His arms wrapped around her nude form and pulled her to him, where his lips met hers in a natural rhythm they had established.

His skin was so white it seemed like he had no circulation at all, but he was surprisingly warm, as she had found out very quickly at their first kiss. His face was usually expressionless, but he knew how to use the muscles located there, and his lips were no different. His entire body was warm, and she reveled in the feel of the firm flesh pressed against her, most noticeably the heated erection between them. His lips were soft and demanding, and the normally indomitable woman found herself once again succumbing to the man she loved. Her skin tightened in apprehension as she felt the soft hands that usually stayed in his pockets softly glide down her back until he had gripped the firm flesh of her thighs and picked her up as he guided them to their nuptial bed. She moaned into his mouth as they fell together and his hard manhood rubbed directly against her core, already wet and waiting for him.

He slowly drew away from her mouth and she whined in disappointment, only stopped when he gently placed his finger over her lips as he took another deep breath in. "You smell good enough to eat," his sensual, usually monotonous voice said breathily.

She smiled seductively and drew the finger placed over her lips into her mouth, where she gave it a slow, tender lick. "Why don't you?"

Once again, the barest trace of a smirk was seen on his lips as his green eyes sparkled. "As you wish."

He crawled down her body, worshipping every centimeter under his eyes with ghostly touches and delicate kisses until he was between her spread legs. He looked at the trimmed pubic hair lining her womanhood as if he had been momentarily struck frozen at the beauty in front of him. She whined in entreaty and rolled her hips, hoping to make contact with something that would alleviate the terrible itch that had developed inside her. He gave a light _hmm_ of amusement and then put a steady grip on her legs with his hands, thus immobilizing her. He could see the terror dawning in her eyes as she realized that he wasn't going to be nearly that nice to her this time, and then her head fell back with a soundless scream as he bent down and took a long, languid lick to her wet folds, running completely up from bottom to top.

There were some aspects of him being meticulous that she absolutely _hated_.

He continued, prodding the wet flesh apart with his tongue and delving in deeper this time, always using the same, slow pace that had her writhing against his grip as one of her hands tangled itself in his hair and the other grabbed on to the remaining horn of his mask fragment. He took great pleasure in driving her slowly and carefully towards the edge of oblivion, even when sometimes all she wanted was release and release _now_. Like now for example. He denied her that though, and kept his slow pace until her legs were absolutely shaking from the tortuous bliss he was putting her through.

"Please…please…!!!" She hated begging, but he was the one person that could make her do it.

Deeming his torture session long enough, he allowed her to fall by taking a long, hard suckle on her clit. Her legs broke free of his grip and clamped around his head like a vice while the hands that had been on his head were instantly removed to cover her mouth as she threw her body back and screamed. The unexpectedly hard maneuver after the insane pleasure of his slow, soft torment, caused her climax to tear through her with a velocity that could only be obtained by the outstretched bliss he had put her through. He scrupulously cleaned her thighs as he drank in her essence and that only prolonged her stay in heaven, until with one last kiss to her sex he removed himself from her legs and took his next favorite thing, her mouth.

After the orgasm he had just put her through her body felt like jelly, and she was all too accommodated to match his relaxed pace as their tongues loved each other with unhurried, steady movements. He had always been able to put her needs before his, and she could feel that even though he seemed as normal as ever outwardly, his erection was throbbing against her with what was obviously need. Under normal circumstances she would have taken great joy in paying him back for the slow, beautiful agony he had put her through, but she knew if she teased him any more than he already was he would only make it worse next time. Right then she wanted him as much as she knew he wanted her.

Their bodies aligned themselves without conscious thought and she brought her legs up around his waist and pulled him to her, impaling herself of her own volition on his large shaft. They both let loose breathy moans as their connection was completed and he leaned down to kiss her again as he started a pace, helped along by her insistent legs as they forced him into her with growing force as time went on. Their contrasting skin was always stunning for both of them to watch as their bodies joined, as alabaster met healthy peach and wide, masculine hands were entwined with slender, feminine counterparts.

They made love with gaining power but a leisurely nature. They both wanted the sweat release of orgasm, but they also wanted to be together with their partner for as long as was inhumanly possible. They steadily made sure they imprinted themselves on each other just as they had so many times before as their bodies gradually climbed up to the peak needed for what they sought. His body was leant completely on her, rubbing together not only their hips and every other pleasure center located there—something that applied to her more than him, being that her engorged clit was being all but rubbed raw— but also their chests, and normally though it would be impossible, their synchronized motions made possible the faster pace they were attaining.

She was more than beautiful in his eyes, she was _his_. She was still tight as ever even after giving birth to their children, and he knew he would never tire of the way she massaged his manhood in her velvety sheath, not for all of eternity. His body was rebelling against his iron restraint and his muscles were tensing and shivering of their own accord because of the pleasure that was shooting through him all because of her. Her straight black hair, still as short as it always was, was fanned all around her head as her head laid on the bed and it fell behind her ears when she leaned up to kiss him. Her perfectly round breasts squashed against his chest and he could feel the nipples harden against his steel skin as the constant rubbing aroused the pink pleasure centers. He could feel the way her inner muscles were starting to grow more erratic with each passing thrust so he waited for her telltale sign that she was close, the sensual moan that burned through him like molten lead.

They knew each other inside and out, and they loved each and every bit of the other. She gave that particularly loud, unearthly moan to signal her release was nearing and he took that as the desired cue he needed to speed up as that grateful moan spurned his own release on.

It was a wordless, joyful peak as their bodies tensed in unison and their mouths moved like they wanted to make sounds, but the sheer enormity of their orgasms prevented any noise from being made until they collapsed into each other with large, gulping breaths.

She brushed his sweaty ink black hair back from over his eyes and ran a hand down his seemingly segmented half-mask that covered one side of his hair like a perfectly halved samurai helmet. His pale face looked down on her lovingly and she looked back in exactly the same way while her eyes drank in his light green tattoos and intense emerald eyes. Unable to stop herself, she leaned up and set a chaste kiss against his tempting lips before she fell back to the bed, drinking in the way his warm body covered her own like the greatest of blankets.

Not wanting to keep his weight on her any longer, he rolled them over so she could lie on top of him, because he knew for a fact that she loved the natural warmth his body exuded. She sighed contently as her head found its way to his shoulder and she reached over to curl her available hand into his. "I love you Ulquiorra," Karin Schiffer told her husband. She knew her last treat for this time, and so she looked up expectantly and wasn't disappointed when he gave her an honest to goodness, completely real _smile_.

He ran the hand that wasn't in hers down her hair softly as they lay together, both recovering from and reveling in what they had just done. "I love you too Karin," the former Cuatro Espada replied back honestly, and of course, for those few precious moments, he allowed his emotion to enter his voice.

She nuzzled up into him and within minutes his wife and the mother of his children was fast asleep. Giving himself one last luxury before he bottled up his emotions again, he gently kissed her forehead before he relaxed as she used him for a mattress, and as soon as the covers were over them both he too fell into Lady Sleep's sweet embrace.

They say Hollows don't dream either, but Ulquiorra Schiffer would beg to differ. His greatest dreams had already come true.

………

**Author's Notes:** Sorry about the delay, I've been working on another story recently and I always get preoccupied, LOL! Once again thank you for the reviews, though I have to admit I'm kind of stumped at the huge drop for chapter seven. Oh well, what can ya do? Reviews are always appreciated!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	9. No Shaking Throne

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**No Shaking Throne**

**.**

Kaien Kurosaki and frustration were old friends. Over five years—not to mention that they were the years where a male's hormones are at their highest—had him well acquainted with the emotion. There wasn't a day that had gone by where he hadn't thought of his and Kin's first kiss, or fantasized about her in one way or another. Most of the time he hadn't even needed to do it consciously, his own dreams betrayed him to his hormonal teenage body. More than a few times had he woken up with an unpleasant stickiness between himself and his boxers.

Now he was back, but the circumstances didn't seem right. His partly Hollow blood boiled for her, it wanted her more every time they kissed, but the man wanted her love more than her body, so he fought down the carnal desires and allowed himself to stay at simply kissing. It went without saying that it affected him though. Even if he tried not to acknowledge it while he was awake, when he was asleep his dreams were tormented with images of the grown young woman his childhood friend had turned into, and he found himself back in the situation he had thought he had outgrew. Had he not known how to clean his scent, his sisters would no doubt be alerted to what had happened if they ever came into his room. He would never live that down.

At least they had an excuse, because once a month there was no stopping their scent. When they had hit puberty he hadn't known how to deal with it, but his parents found out very quickly that their daughters should stay in their rooms until they found a way to mask the scent of their monthly cycles. To Hollows that was like an aphrodisiac; a sick, twisted aphrodisiac, but an aphrodisiac nonetheless. It was easy for him though, because though he was part Hollow, that instinct also recognized their scents as ones of its own, in other words: its family. Even Hollows didn't dare tread in that territory, and for that he was extremely thankful.

If he could only last three more weeks. Christmas was in three weeks, and he had the perfect plan. If all went well, like he hoped it would, he would be able to put to rest one of the greatest desires of his heart and body. True, they were only eighteen, but his parents had just turned nineteen when they did, so he found nothing wrong with it.

_Three weeks. _The words rolled around in his mind like the daunting challenge it was. He just had to manage three more weeks, but three weeks seemed like so long to his repressed body.

He groaned and flopped back onto his bed, content to stare up at the ceiling and will his sexually-frustrated body to calmness. He had absolute control of his body, mind, and reiatsu, but it was still hard to repress such base and normal urges. He was eternally glad for his training, where attaining those things had been necessary was he to grow more powerful, because they came in infinitely handy in situations like the one he found himself in.

The doorbell rang unexpectedly and he sat up and prepared to greet the welcome distraction from his fantasies. He didn't want to be around her every second of every day—well, he did—because if he did than he was afraid he wasn't going to be able to control himself. He wanted to be with her forever, to take her in his arms and never let her go again, but his rational side told him that was expecting too much from a young woman like Kin Urahara-_Shihouin_. It was in her _blood_ to want to roam around and be free, just as it was in his blood to want to keep her forever.

Damn Hollow possessiveness.

It was for that reason that he hoped Tsukiyomi found an Arrancar male she wanted to be with, because that was the only species that would understand what she would go through if she found someone she deemed worthy to love. Masaki had a Hollow aspect too, but that was a separate entity that actually _loved_ her host, and with Masaki's unusual abilities it wasn't quite the same.

He shook his head to rid his mind of his thoughts as walked to the door to find it already closed, and his mother was in the doorway talking to none other than who he had been thinking of previously.

_Just my luck,_ he groaned inwardly. He was trying to stop thinking about her and yet she had to show up on his doorstep, looking as damn gorgeous as she always did. He sighed. Three weeks was going to be hell.

She spotted him and waved as he approached, and she gave him a light peck on the lips when he reached them. He returned it gratefully and nearly groaned when he felt his heartbeat already accelerate. The urgency of the arousal fired through him, and he bit back a growl that would have been none-too-human. Still, it didn't impede him from stopping in confusion. Even though that always happened around her, this time it had happened way too quickly.

_What's going on?_

"How are you today huh? Trying to avoid me all day or something?" she asked sarcastically, completely missing the way his pupils were gradually dilating.

"I'm…fine…"

That was a lie. His absolute control was fading, and that _never_ happened unless under very specific or very dire circumstances. All he could do was try to figure out what was happening to him, and that didn't sit well with him at all. His Hollow blood was burning inside him now, clawing at the steel control he held over it with a savage vengeance.

Tatsuki cocked her head to the side as she looked at him just as confusedly as her son appeared to be. This wasn't something she had dealt with before, and that surprised her. She knew everything there was to know about her children, at least so she had thought, so she was wondering why she had never encountered this before. Then she saw the way his pupils were gradually widening like under the influence of a drug, the way his chest was pumping his breaths inwards in shorter and shorter intervals, the way his muscles were clenching and his hands were trembling. The way he was beginning to look like something other than himself.

_Oh. Shit._

Kaien was thinking the same thing. He could barely remember where he was. All he could feel were his senses thrumming at an extreme level, more than they ever had before, trying to absorb everything; every detail, every feature, every _thing_ of something. He could smell this something in the air, something strangely metallic but oddly appealing, like there was something else mixed in. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he would have thought it was Kin…

If Kaien Kurosaki was one to use curses, every four letter word in as many languages as he knew would have come flying out of his mouth. Since this wasn't the case, he simply froze on the spot and tried desperately to beat down those rising desires even though it had already started affecting his own thoughts. His body felt like it was on fire, and he stared at Kin in horror as he realized what it was.

With great difficulty, he forced his trembling hands into fists and smiled nicely at her. "I'm sorry…Kin, could you…come back…later?" he strained out as evenly as he could. The fake smile was still plastered on his face, and it was all he could do to keep the blood in his head that wanted so badly to be redirected elsewhere. "Now's…really not the…best time…" Not unlike his body utterly rejecting his control, he took a deep inhalation of the air and sighed almost drunkenly as to his terror, a Hollow's characteristic smoke came wafting from his mouth. He quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and started backing away, completely aware of the way she was looking at him. Hell, if it was happening to anyone else he'd be looking at them like that too.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

His heart was thundering against his ribcage now, as if it wanted to break out of his bones' confines. His breath was leaving him faster and faster with each breath he took in and the strange steam usually followed, though it was covered by his hand. He couldn't tell her what was happening to him. It would be like five years earlier, only five times worse. Worse yet, his mother was right beside her too.

"Uhhh, Mom, why don't you and Kin…catch up…I've been hogging….her all to myself…I'm sure you'd like…to **know about her training**…" It was getting worse. He was not only losing his ability to string words together, but his voice was changing accordingly like his father's. He knew if he didn't cool his blood down soon his reiatsu would break free of his control and so would his own more Hollow-like nature. His now glowing eyes were getting frantic now, and his desperation was practically visible in them.

"But I came here to see you!" she whined playfully, but there was an edge of annoyance that signaled a very quick mood change if anything else went awry. A sign usually present when a human woman goes through a certain time.

_Oh god._ She really didn't know what she did to him just by being around him while in that state. Before he could stop his body, his hand had struck out and smacked against the side of the wall he was near loudly; loud enough that she backed away from him just out of surprise, hard enough that cracks spider-webbed their way out from the point of impact His vision was blurring, and his hand was clawing into the wall now. He looked once more over at his mother and saw that her eyes had Hollowized, and he briefly saw her take in a sniff through her nose before her eyes widened in the same horror that was coursing through him. She naturally wasn't affected, she was a woman too. But now she knew.

Tatsuki quickly ran in front of Kin and smiled brightly as she tried to hide the sweat breaking out on her forehead. "Yeah Kin! It's been way too long! Let's go outside for a chat shall we?" Her hand tightened inadvertently on Kin's bicep and the young woman winced.

"S-Sure, Mrs. Kurosaki."

"Oh please, just call me Tatsuki! Really, we have to go, as in, right now!!" With that, she quickly ushered the mocha-skinned young woman out the door she had entered just a few minutes earlier.

The second they were out the door, Kaien had bolted from where he was standing and practically destroyed the bathroom door to get into one of the many spacious bathrooms of the house. He threw himself into the shower, clothes and all, and quickly turned the water as cold as it could possibly go. He gasped hoarsely as the ice cold liquid fell over his burning body and he could have sworn he saw some of it start to evaporate the second it hit his boiling skin.

It had to be her. It had be that time. She just _had_ to come here, knowing how well he could smell, right smack dab in the middle of her monthly cycle. His fingers scraped at the tile flooring as the water fell over him and he tried to fight down the urges ripping through him with the finesse of…well, a Hollow. His muscles were all as tense as springs coiled to the maximum degree and even the cold water couldn't get rid of the throbbing need pulsing between his legs and straining against his wet pants.

Three weeks wasn't going to be hell, it was going to be far, _far_ worse.

He tore his clothing off, unmindful to whether or not they were ones he liked. He needed to be closer to the icy water, maybe then it would work. His body shivered in the cold but still his insides burned. The fire was raging too hot, he wasn't going to be able to control himself much longer. He could practically feel the blood inching up into his eyelids, greedily willing to let his instincts take over, but he couldn't let it. Not again. He had trained for so long so it would never happen again!

Ashamed and humiliated that he couldn't control his own body, Kaien succumbed to what his body wanted and started stroking himself even as the water that should have been making it go away failed in succeeding. Most, if not all, teenage boys have done this at one time or another, but he didn't like to because he knew his fantasies weren't anything compared to the real thing. The empty nights in Hueco Mundo were far more suffocating when his resistance failed and afterwards he would remember she was still nowhere near him. Empty fantasies, that was all they were. Now though, he was home. He was with her.

For all he knew she could be in the courtyard of his house right now, and here he was fighting for his sanity while his mind played every erotic image he had ever had of her over and over, including the feel of her lips on his, the feel of her velvety soft skin under her clothes as his hands wandered over it lovingly. Against his mind's will, his body finally broke in sweet self-inflicted rapture and he exploded over the shower floor, panting for breath as his body started returning to normal as the cold water was finally able to do something now that he had helped it out. He fell back against the tiled wall and slid down until he was seated naked on the tiles, still allowing the cold water to fall over him as his clothes lay in torn disarray in various places of the stall, just as wet as he was while the water washed away the evidence of what he had just done.

He couldn't believe what had just happened to him. He had almost lost control without his sister even being involved in prodding his partly-Hollow blood to the surface. Worse than that, if his mother hadn't been there and he hadn't made it away in time, he knew he wouldn't have been able to control himself. Kin hadn't known what she was doing to him, of course she hadn't, he hadn't told her about that aspect of Arrancars. Truthfully he had thought he was immune to that particular aspect of Hollows, it had never affected him before. Maybe it just hadn't responded because it would only respond to one person.

Nevertheless, he knew.

_If…if circumstances had been different…I…I might have…_

Disgusted with himself, he broke into tears mixed with sick laughter as he covered his eyes with his forearm and stayed under the water that was cold enough to induce hypothermia. He was fine with that. He deserved this cold, he _wanted_ this cold. He could never punish himself enough for what had almost happened, almost or not. It was unthinkable in his mind that he was even _capable _of such a thing, and yet it had almost happened. The disgusted laughter echoed the state of his heart, but his body was unmoved to the emotional turmoil inside him now that the cold water was making it focus only on keeping its remaining heat. Not nearly satisfied with that, he stood and turned around, then started viciously slamming his forehead into the tile wall; not contented until some of the tile was in pieces on the floor at his feet and his traitorous blood was flowing down his face.

Five years. He had spent _five years_ training himself to have absolute control over his body and his powers. He had thought he had gone through every possible circumstance that had even the mildest chance of him losing control. He had even forced his own body into submission so he could gain more power, and yet he had almost lost control. _I almost lost control!!! Around Kin!! I could have hurt Kin!!!_

He fell to his knees, indifferent to the fact that the shards were digging into his flesh, and buried his face in his hands as he started crying again. They weren't from the physical pain he had just put himself through, but the emotional turmoil and disgust roiling inside him, the things he was trying to get rid of through the physical pain.

He knew.

He might have… forced himself on her.

………

Souken and Asuka Ishida broke through the Garganta and looked down on what should be where they had hoped to go. Sure enough, they were right above it, and they saw Kin and Kaien's mother talking casually on one of the benches in the vast backyard. It was December, but it wasn't very cold yet. They had spent another solid week _celebrating_ before they realized they should probably tell their friends, not to mention their King and Queen. Two of them were right under their feet now.

They jumped down from where they had broken through the realms and landed hand-in-hand in front of Tatsuki and Kin. The two women had been so caught up in conversation they jumped when the two landed in front of them and Asuka instantly noticed that though her Queen seemed fine, her sweat reeked of worry.

"Asuka! Souken! Long time no see!"

Since Souken didn't have her senses, he wasn't able to tell what his 'Partner' was sensing, and he smiled down on his longtime friend. "Yeah, it has been a while. I heard you and Kurosaki finally got together," he replied lamely as he rubbed the back of his head, for some reason unable to say that he had just 'married' the girl of his dreams.

He didn't need to, for Kin noted their joined hands with interest. "I can tell we aren't the only ones. When did you two get together?"

Souken and Asuka both blushed, much to Tatsuki's bewilderment. That was, until the inner Queen decided to pipe up rather unexpectedly.

_**Well hot damn, those two finally got down! Their reiatsu is all over each other!!**_ The White Queen sensed amusedly, which she took great joy in announcing to her host. Tatsuki smiled like a happy parent at the two teens that had been friends with her son for the longest time over their time in Hueco Mundo.

"You claimed him, didn't you?" she asked amusedly, and Souken nearly choked on the air he was breathing while Asuka beamed.

"Something like that," she answered proudly, and leaned into her what would be called husband in the Living World. It probably hadn't even occurred to Tatsuki that it had been the other way around.

"Huh?" the only other person there asked tactlessly.

Tatsuki looked over at the clueless teen with a smile. "It basically means they've gotten married."

She hadn't known Kin's eyes could get that big.

"What!? Congratulations!!" She screeched excitedly as she jumped up, and Asuka quickly hugged her like she knew she wanted to as they started bouncing together like any pair of excited girls. It was a wet dream waiting to happen.

With Kin in her arms, the supersensitive nose of Asuka quickly picked up on what her body was going through. Her blood ran cold and she instantly stopped jumping up and down with her old friend. Kaien's reiatsu was on her, but she knew the scent of a virgin was different than that of a claimed female. _That means…oh god, they haven't done anything yet!! She came here like this!?_

Asuka quickly tore herself out of her friend's arms and looked over at her Queen with alarm written all over her face. "He hasn't claimed her yet, has he!?" she shouted, her worry gradually escalating.

Tatsuki nodded. "I was surprised too."

Now Asuka just couldn't comprehend this. She ran her hands through her bright blue hair to try and dry her suddenly sweaty palms. "And…you let her come here like this!? Are you out of your goddamn mind!?" It didn't matter that she was speaking to her Queen, she was also talking to her best friend's mother.

Souken knew 'like this' could only mean a few things when it came to the residents of Hueco Mundo, and his intelligent mind was able to put two and two together rather quickly. _Oh…this is _not_ good._ He knew his friend, and he had to congratulate him inwardly on the fact that he had more self-control than even he, the vaunted Quincy, had. He knew his friend obviously wanted to make it special, it was _Kaien_ after all, and the woman he loved had been his friend since he was four.

He could only imagine what he was going through right now. _No wonder he never reacted all those years up in Hueco Mundo. His body already had someone it wanted._

He sighed. "Oh no," he muttered aloud.

"What do you mean, 'oh no?'" Kin asked innocently. She was taken aback when Asuka cast wide, disbelieving eyes on her.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" the blue-haired hybrid roared as she stomped back to her friend. "You mean to tell me you didn't learn a damn thing about Arrancars or Hollows over _five years!?!?_"

Kin cocked an eyebrow confusedly. "Sure, I learned a whole lot about their weaknesses and the best techniques for beating them."

Asuka looked like she was seriously restraining herself from punching her old friend right in the face. "You absolute moron!! You never, _ever_ come near one you're emotionally close to in your state if you're unclaimed!!"

Kin's eyebrow never lowered, and she looked over at Tatsuki. "What on earth is she so worried about?"

Tatsuki looked too downcast to answer her, but Souken cleared his throat softly to gain her attention. "Kin, you should know that Kaien is all three spiritual entities by now, right?" She nodded wordlessly. "And you have been told that his senses are above average even by Arrancar standards, right?" Again, another nod. "So naturally you know that though he leans more to the element of the zanpakutou, he _does_ have Hollow blood, right?"

Her eyes widened. She had never thought of it that way before, but now that she thought about it, the way he had been so concerned about losing control before finally made sense.

"That blood doesn't act up very often, but if he ever loses himself to it he becomes the most frightening Hollow in existence, one whose purest instincts are on the surface without the normal mask to shield them from the outside world. Basically, he loses all respect for his actions, and becomes more mindless than even the lowest level of Hollow. Tsukiyomi keeps a twisted sense of her personality when she loses it, but since Kaien is more the zanpakutou than the inner Hollow, the only way his body knows how to deal with it is by hiding his rationale in the deepest part of his being to protect it from the pure instincts that take over. When that happens, he isn't Kaien anymore, and would do anything indiscriminately. Only the King or Queen can fight it down once it fully surfaces, but until that happens Kaien can try and keep his sanity on his own."

He watched as Kin's eyes continued to get wider and wider.

"That's even worse than what I've learned about the Vizards. He really goes through that?"

Souken sighed. "Only if the stimulus is strong enough. It doesn't happen very often, not unless Tsukiyomi does anything to him usually."

She gulped and looked over at Asuka, who hadn't moved from her spot right in front of her, glaring at her. "Now, Arrancar Life one-oh-one. First question: do you know what sets an Arrancar's blood to a boil more than any other thing?" she asked venomously, glaring all through her question.

Kin gulped again. For some reason she didn't like where this was going. "N-No, what?"

Asuka nearly hit her. "_Blood_. A certain kind of _blood._"

Kin's eyebrow stayed cocked. "Wha…?"

"Question two," the panther child growled. "What do you think that boiling blood would want to do if in the presence of a potential claim?"

Now Kin was far beyond confused, but she was still as bright as ever. She learned to read between the lines even if she didn't know the answer. "Uh…claim?"

Asuka threw her arms up into the air and started clapping sarcastically. "Give the lady a cigar! Question three!" She stalked up until she was right in front of the frightened teen. "_Are…_you…_bleeding?_" she snarled in an accusing whisper.

Without even waiting for her to answer, Asuka twirled around and looked at her husband concernedly. "I'm going to look for him. Who knows what he's done to himself by now."

Souken nodded his approval and she took off running into the house, leaving the three behind. He turned back to Kin, who was still looking as innocent as ever. "What does she mean? I'm not cut anywhere." She scratched the side of her head as she continued to ponder the question.

Tatsuki couldn't let the game of guilt Asuka had been trying to play on Kin go on any longer, even though the questions had been really simple to anyone who had lived in Hueco Mundo at any period of time. She put her hand on Kin's shoulder and the young woman turned to look at her with her bright gold eyes still blissfully oblivious. "Kin, she didn't say just blood. She said a certain kind of blood. You are bleeding somewhere, in fact you've probably already tried to hide it today. You can't fool Hollow senses, I smelled it the second I tried. Kaien doesn't even need to try; he's been attuned to your scent since he's come back, and he doesn't need to tap into a Hollow first to gain those enhanced senses, he has them all the time."

Kin's heart nearly skipped a beat. "You can't be serious…"

"She's dead serious," Souken asserted. "No matter how strange it sounds, its _menstrual_ blood: the blood mixed with the unique essence of a female is like a drug to Arrancars if the woman is emotionally close to them. Other than promising themselves to each other, the other way for lasting relationships to be made in Hueco Mundo is for that female to be around the male she likes in that state. The…um…menstrual cycle, has _very_ different effects on female Arrancars too, so it's basically like walking up to someone nude and asking where the bedroom is. Believe me, certain days of the month you learn to stay away from some parts of Hueco Mundo." He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder too. "He never responded once throughout all the years in Hueco Mundo. I think that's because he had already given you his heart, so he would only respond to you. Judging from the situation, not even he knew about it, so that means he's been waiting."

Kin smiled sadly. "The sap. Knowing him he's trying to find the perfect setting, wouldn't he?" She wondered why that hadn't occurred to her earlier.

Tatsuki didn't like the fact that they were talking about her son's potential love life, but in this case it was deadly serious. That, and she knew he was like his father. If he ever wanted to go all the way it was because he had already made up his mind on where he wanted their relationship to end up. "I'm sorry Kin, if I had known I wouldn't have even let you in the door."

"But why is everyone so worried? If he lost himself to his Hollow nature than wouldn't you just be able to beat it down?"

She looked at the ground sadly. "I can, but not in the way you think. I'm not powerful enough to make him submit in my human body, only Ichigo's able to do that. All I can do is sing him the lullaby I made him while he was a baby, and that calms him down gradually, not instantly. I couldn't risk fighting him, because he could seriously hurt me in that state, and I can't risk hurting my baby…" she trailed off as she looked down and rubbed her belly softly.

Kin understood right away. "I'm sorry, I forgot about that."

"Kin, if you were Kaien, waiting for the perfect setting, and suddenly you were exposed to something that would make you lose all value for your actions and do anything without any regard for anyone—if that would cause you to lose that perfect setting, what would you fear?" the Quincy asked matter-of-factly.

"If I were a mindless beast that's first instinct would be to…claim, right?" Souken nodded. "Okay. To _claim_ an unclaimed person. Wait what does that mean anyway? What's an unclaimed?"

Souken blushed brightly. "Um, that's a…that is to say, I guess you could say an unmarried Arrancar or person that's attractive to you. Though…virgin, is about the same thing."

Kin nodded in embarrassed understanding. "Okay, so my first instinct would be to claim this unclaimed person, and if he was the one that had made this reaction, my first target would be…" She stopped dead. "Oh god. My first target would be him, so that means his first target would be me! If he knows he wouldn't have any regard for his actions, then that means he would probably fear…"

What they meant was finally dawning on her. Heavy tears were falling from her eyes now. She should have caught on sooner. He had been doing everything in his power to get her as far away from him as humanly possible and she had been so oblivious she had wanted to stay even though she could tell he wasn't acting normal.

"Let me guess," Souken said, "he tried to get you away, and you were none the wiser?"

"Does…does this mean he's in the house somewhere, on a rampage?"

Tatsuki shook her head. "If he had lost control he would have been out that door right after us. He just needed you to get away from him. I'll walk you home Kin. Come back in a couple of days."

She nodded wordlessly and allowed the older Soul Reaper to put her arm over her shoulders comfortingly as they walked away from the house.

………

A sickening sense of foreboding had blanketed over Asuka the second she had set foot in the house. She knew instinctively he had done something. Hoping beyond hope, the first place she checked was his room. She stopped in front of the closed door as she smelled a familiar metallic liquid and looked down to see bloody footprints leading into the room.

_Oh god Kaien, what did you do?_

She didn't even bother knocking, she just opened the door and gently crept inside, following the trail of bloody footprints. They ended at his bed and she looked up in shock to see Kaien, wearing nothing but a towel, shivering and staring off into space with tears falling from his tattooed eyes as blood flowed from vicious gashes in his forehead while the same life-giving liquid flowed down his legs from where shards of sharp tile stuck in his knees. He seemed oblivious to everything but his tears, and his usually bright yellow eyes were dull and lifeless as he sat limply against his wall on his bed. It had been a long time since she had seen his tattooed arm fully exposed like it was now, but that was the last thing on her mind.

"Kaien!!" she shouted concernedly and rushed to his side.

He looked over at her slowly, like he hadn't heard her until then, and more tears fell from his face. "I would have…I would have…I know I would have…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" he mumbled incoherently, as if he didn't even recognize who it was as his head lulled back to the side.

Asuka felt herself choking up. She knew what he meant. He was shivering, but his face looked unusually flushed, never mind the fact that he was losing a lot of blood from his forehead. She quickly set her hand against his cheek, uncaring of the blood on his face, and her eyes widened when they felt the unnatural heat of his body. _Oh shit, he has a fever!! He must have tried to use a cold shower to calm himself down then…_ She didn't even want to finish the thought. She could see the effects of what he had done to himself as surely as she could feel his blood on her hand.

She quickly ran out the door to find anyone who could help.

"Souken!! Queen Tatsuki!!! I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!!!"

………

Kaien awoke groggily, and the first thing his eyes focused in on was the bright head of orange hair on the person leaning over his legs. The second thing was, he was clad in only a pair of boxer shorts. As his eyes focused in more, he saw the orange head he had noticed previously was his father, removing the bandages on his knees.

Wait, why did he have bandages on his knees?

His memories came flooding back to him and he gave a mirthless laugh. He was a moron. He didn't deserve her. He couldn't even keep his own damn body under control. He saw his father turn at the noise, and he smiled down on him.

"Hey there Squirt, you had us pretty worried for a little while there. Your fever only broke last night. It took you longer than normal to recover this time, but that was to be expected with all the blood you lost. If not for your zanpakutou self-regeneration ability you would have been a lot worse off." He could hear the worry and relief in his father's voice, and he tried to lean up, only for Ichigo to push him back down. "Whoa there Squirt, you're not going anywhere. Here, have some water."

He held the cup he had grabbed from the nightstand to his son's lips and he swallowed it eagerly, suddenly realizing how parched his throat was. With that knowledge, his body also told him it wasn't feeling like moving anytime soon, despite what he wanted it to do. He flopped back to the bed with a soft groan. "How long was I out?"

Ichigo returned to his work of removing the bandages, and was relieved when he saw perfectly healed flesh underneath. That meant the bandages around his forehead could be removed too. "About two days. Like I said, you lost a lot of blood. Your body was in no condition to fight off the fever you gave yourself."

He laughed weakly. "I'm sorry."

Ichigo nodded. "It's okay, I understand your fear. Believe it or not, at one time my Hollow and I didn't get along the greatest either. I know that kind of fear personally."

Kaien nodded feebly. He knew his father understood, he _always_ understood. He was freaky like Hat-and-Clogs in that respect. "Where's Mom?"

"I sent her to bed. She wouldn't leave your side for the first day and a half. Going that long without sleep isn't good for the baby."

In an instant Kaien felt like a bigger idiot than he had before. The worry he must have put his mother through wouldn't be good for the baby either, especially not this early into the pregnancy. He really was a selfish tool. "I'm sorry Dad. I didn't—"

"Shh, none of that," Ichigo cut him off instantly. "I know you didn't mean to put her through that. You weren't yourself, we all know that." He motioned to the floor, and with as much strength as he could muster, Kaien looked over and saw three bodies sleeping on the floor beside his bed. Tsukiyomi, Masaki, and lastly…Kin. "She hasn't left your side since. You gave her quite the scare."

Kaien laughed bitterly. "Was that when I gave myself a fever, or when I was about two seconds away from forcing myself on her?" His voice dripped with self-loathing, and his father's expression darkened.

"Stop that right now," the orange-haired captain hissed lowly, and Kaien looked away like a rebellious child. "_Look at me._" The tone of his voice said it was non-negotiable, and since he couldn't move anyway, the only choice he had was to look back at his father's eerily deadly form. "None of us blame you, and nothing happened. That should be what you remember. No matter the circumstances, you still stopped yourself in time, and it's not a lie in any way to say you weren't yourself.

"I know it's hard to take, but believe me I know what its like to know you're going to do something and not be in control of your own body. I _watched_ as my Hollow tore into Byakuya and I could feel him pushing at my control every day after, _knowing_ that if he broke loose he would kill everyone I held dear, and all I would be able to do would be to _watch._ To be absolutely honest, I'm glad you can't remember anything when you go berserk, because that's much better than seeing it with your own eyes and not being able to do anything about it."

Once again, his father had torn to the heart of the matter in seconds, and made sure he knew he understood.

"You've beaten it before, we both know that. You're my son, Kaien, and I know you can become strong enough to fight it off even when it's _that_ that it senses. You did it this time too. You still managed to get her away from you so you could fight it off by yourself. I know you won't let it take over Kaien, so don't be afraid. That blood is a part of who you are, so don't be afraid of it. Don't be afraid of it, but don't let it rule you either. You've controlled it for this long, and I don't think you're going to fail anytime soon."

Kaien felt tears sting his eyes. His father still had so much faith in him, even after what had almost happened. He wanted him to dwell on the _almost_, what _almost_ happened, but it _hadn't_ happened. He _had_ fought it off eventually. His father had learned his lessons in pep talks from Rukia well.

He looked down again, and he saw Kin's bright golden eyes looking at him, as if she couldn't believe he was awake. She instantly jumped to her feet and ran over to him, planting desperate kisses that tasted like the tears that had instantly started falling from her eyes on his lips.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again! Don't you ever scare me like that again!!" she pleaded in the breaks between her kisses, but Kaien didn't respond.

No matter what had happened and the talk his father had given him, one fact remained: he didn't deserve her. He felt her lips on his but he couldn't bring himself to respond. If it ever happened again, he didn't know what he'd do.

Finally, it seemed to dawn on her that she was kissing a wall, and she moved up to look down on him with tear-streaked eyes bathed in confusion. "What's wrong?"

He looked away from her. "I'm…sorry. I don't deserve you, you or your love anymore."

Both Ichigo's and Kin's eyes widened.

_SLAP!!_

Kaien stared in shock over at the young woman he still loved with his entire being as he held his stinging red cheek—as he cursed that he didn't have Hierro with his human body—while she leaned over him holding her hand in that completed slap. "You idiot," she said as she looked at him with hurt radiating from her golden eyes. "Do you know what you kept saying all throughout your fever? You kept repeating them like it was the only thing that mattered if Death took you." Her eyes turned soft, and he wanted to reach out and hug her, but he kept himself in place. "You kept saying you were sorry. Over and over for two days as we tried to get your fever down, those were the only words you said."

He couldn't look at her anymore. She looked so sad and it was all because of him. He forgot his body was still weak, so when she cupped his chin and forced him to look back at her, he had no choice but to comply.

"Now you listen and you listen good. Love isn't something you deserve, love is something given freely and unconditionally. I love you Kaien, and I believe in you, just like your family does. I wasn't expecting it to be a bed of roses, I did expect there to be some rough patches. That's what a relationship is all about, though I'll admit ours is a bit stranger than some." She laughed lightly, and before he could stop himself he found he had joined her. "I'm willing to accept you, _all_ of you, can you do the same?"

Ichigo smiled as he left the room. What she had just said sounded almost identical to what Tatsuki had once told him so many years ago, after sneaking into his room in the dead of night and punching him in the chest. He knew things were going to be just fine.

Kaien stared wordlessly at his girlfriend. Had she been a resident of Hueco Mundo, he would have thought she had just proposed to him. Being that she wasn't, he understood what she meant nonetheless. "Dammit, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

She gave him a toothy smile that showed her more feline canines. "Many times. I promise I'll keep your heart safe Kaien, but only if you promise me you'll do the same to mine."

He smiled back at her with wet eyes. "I think I can do that."

"Good," she replied sweetly.

Then she leaned back down to kiss him again, and Kaien appreciatively returned the favor. When Tsukiyomi and Masaki woke up, they found the two snuggled together on the bed, sleeping soundly.

Maybe three weeks wouldn't be that long after all.

He was going to make sure it was well worth the wait.

………

**Author's Notes:** Sorry for the wait! As I said before, I'm working on a new story now, so going over one I've already completed sometimes takes a second seat to it. I hope you all continue to like it though, I have plenty of chapters to go!

Please review! Reviews keep up motivation!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	10. Flower On The Precipice

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**Flower On The Precipice**

.

Time really did fly by, and thanks to an unfortunate event that had happened two weeks ago, Kin Urahara-Shihouin knew that though her love interest may still be fighting off her advances, she knew when he thought the time was right he would stop restraining himself.

Still, Asuka and her stories of her phenomenal archer lover whose abilities were practically _made_ for the bedroom weren't helping her any.

They went on regular dates like any other couple, though sometimes those dates included hunting down inhuman beasts while running around as a soul, which made them anything _but_ regular. Where she lacked in her schoolwork, she more than made up for in her fighting techniques, and she saw Kaien's looks of amazement and even fear more often than not when she had finished their opponent off. Her fighting talent was just plain _unnatural._ He had yet to see her call out her sword, but he knew it just as well, if not better than she did.

Absorbing all the memories of a zanpakutou when it cuts will do that kind of thing.

She was just as good with her sword as she was with her hands and feet, and her skill in Shunpo was on par to a captain class Soul Reaper easily. The fact that she could use Shunkou, not to mention had complete mastery of it, put her on that strength level as well. He knew for a fact that she couldn't use Bankai, but he knew she had spent most of her time perfecting Shunkou, and not as much time perfecting her zanjutsu. She was scary enough as it was, if she managed Bankai he didn't know what she'd do to him next time she got mad at him.

Then again, he hadn't released so much as a speck of reiatsu since he came back, so she had no way of judging his strength either other than the few fights she had seen him in. She really wanted to see Cerokou, but so far he hadn't had the occasion to bring it out. It was pretty hard to even imagine what kinds of strength and speed would be attainable having the full destructive capabilities of the Hollow Flash behind them.

Shaking herself away from those thoughts, she quickly redirected them to her plan. She knew Kaien was waiting for the right time, so she decided she would _give_ him a right time. After all, Christmas was only a week away now, and she had picked out the _perfect_ gift for him. She knew he would like it. Her face still flushed even when she _thought_ about it. She was bold, but she didn't know if she'd be able to go through with it. There was always Plan B though.

She had spent the past two weeks learning everything that had to with Hueco Mundo from Asuka, when she was away from Kaien of course. It had been over a month already, and yet seeing him everyday still seemed like a dream. She had never guessed a place she had thought so primitive would have its own culture, completely different from that of Soul Society. Then again, she had to take into consideration the fact that the Hollows had only been able to attain the human-like Vastro-Lorde level in the past twenty years, _and_ that they had a reasonable King ruling them.

Her boyfriend's father was a frightening person to say the least, even though she had never thought him capable of it before.

Asuka's stories constantly awed her in that respect.

Because of this knowledge however, she looked on her friend in a different light. Now every time she saw Souken caress the bone-fragment of her friend's jaw she knew that he was wordlessly expressing that he loved her, and that something as seemingly simple as accepting someone could have matrimonial implications. Arrancar's tolerated each other, and many had friends inside their race, but completely accepting another had totally different applications than the concept of tolerance in the Living World. The power levels was another thing that had been brought up, and though Ichigo had tried to abolish the Numeros system, many still judged each other by their strength and how it compared to others. There were exceptions though.

She had a whole new respect for Kaien now, knowing he had been granted the title of 'Prince' by trial, not lineage.

That only went to show how strong his sisters were, having attained 'Princess' status at only fourteen.

She wanted to understand the world he came from, and she realized it was much different from the world he had been born into. There had been no trips to Soul Society over that five years, but they had been visited by a few captains and their lieutenants every once in a while; not taking into account the Soul Reapers that were just their friends. From what she had heard anyway. Judging just from the ones that were close friends of Ichigo, she knew that was quite a lot of authority flying around, not to mention trust if they hadn't reported his status to the Society, let alone the nature of his children's powers.

It was an execution waiting to happen, but instead nothing had been done.

Ichigo Kurosaki had truly changed the worlds in the core of their very definitions.

When it came to schoolwork, Kin had decided she really didn't care. She was going to be Valedictorian for sure, but since she would have an almost unlimited lifespan in which to learn and grow, she had decided trying any harder would be a waste of effort. She had two other worlds to learn about anyways, focusing on just one seemed pretty trivial.

It was the last day before Christmas Break started, and she couldn't wait for the day to be over. Like always, the most that happened was a light snowfall, and that was only rarely. Where they were, it was mostly Spring-like even during the winter months, and that was if it was really bad.

She could feel Kaien's presence at the back of the class, sitting where he always did when he wasn't teaching or illustrating a point. It was like she could sense his eyes on her, and were he anyone else she might have been a bit freaked out. That was the beauty of having a boyfriend that was willing to wait longer than she was, because she knew he would never try anything intentionally.

Most of the time she thought of that as a bad thing though.

She still remembered waking up in his arms, and it was one of the most comforting feelings she had ever felt in her life. She felt…safe. It had been the first time she had seen him without a shirt too since he had been back, and she got an eyeful of toned muscle and near-flawless skin, only offset when her eyes finally registered the fact that this was also the first time she had ever seen his left arm fully exposed. Since he had still been sleeping, she had taken great care in looking at it quietly, even though every other part of her wanted to cry.

The linear, admittedly stylish tattoos that reminded her a lot of Renji Abarai were the first things her eyes traced, and she noted that like she had thought, they went all the way up his arm and even to some places on his shoulder. When she looked closer however, she found what she was looking for. She had nearly screamed. The tattoos didn't simply cover one scar per tattoo, they covered _multiple_ scars. None of them were jagged, or even bubbled over his skin; instead they were indented like certain layers of flesh hadn't been repaired properly, though it made hiding them with black ink much easier. She had lost count of how many scars crisscrossed over each other, and there was a twisted kind of congruity to them that showed either Kaien had been very lucky, or he had planned exactly how the blade was going to cut him. To be able to do something like that in the heat of battle was mind-boggling.

Now every time she looked back at him and saw the black undershirt he wore under his shirt—though she could see the ending spikes of the tattoos themselves that darted out over his wrist—the only thing she saw was the scars underneath, as if reliving a memory in real-time. She may have had her fair share of battles, but she knew most of his training had been in life-or-death situations, battling Hollows whose level was enough to make most lieutenants shake in their sandals. That wasn't to say that her own training hadn't been dangerous, having parents like Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihouin as trainers meant no grounds were off-limits, but in real-time, real-life battle experience she was sure he easily outdid her. Her father was able to emulate something similar, but some small part of her mind doubted he would really be able to kill her, so that didn't count.

That was another thing they hadn't done since he had been back, and she resolved that they were going to have a sparring match again very soon.

She absentmindedly rubbed the scarf around her neck as Mrs. Kojima—formerly Miss Ochi—droned on about something or other, she couldn't care less. She just wanted school to be done with, but Christmas Break was good enough for now.

"Hey Kurosaki!" she heard her teacher's voice exclaim, and that made her perk her head up curiously.

"Hmm?" Kaien answered in typical male fashion, and she saw Mrs. Kojima's eyebrow start twitching in annoyance.

"There's only a few minutes left in the day, would you care to come up here and tell us what you've learned about us? I hear you won't be coming back after break. That's too bad really; I've really enjoyed having you help…"

Even Kin didn't know that particular tidbit of information, and she instantly looked back at aforementioned person, to which he just shrugged.

"I'm sorry; it was fun while it lasted though, ne? I think I've gained all that I can from this class, but it was helpful. I had almost forgotten how to blend in with this culture after being away for so long."

Mrs. Kojima adjusted her classes as she cocked her head to the side. "Wha…?"

"The best thing I can say is that the culture these young people have developed is surprisingly nonviolent compared to the one I was in, but discrepancies fuel grudges that burn for longer than they should if the matter was simply explained and acted upon. For example, I've noticed the males in this class all seem to have a preoccupation with a certain female member…" His voice was calm, and he was clearly acting the part of the highly educated medical school student he had portrayed himself to be, but the class noted the way the tendons in his neck tensed slightly at the last part before he continued. "…while in the culture I've come from the people recognize a _lost cause_ right away and continue on.

"It's a shame really; if I had to be completely honest I'd say this class is definitely not lacking its fair share of attrac…" He caught himself before Kin's glare reached him, and he swallowed nervously. "Ahem, that is to say there are plenty of other deserving candidates, and to focus on the one so obviously taken is sheer stupidity. Where I've come from, to try and oppose an initial cla…relationship, is encouraged, but only if the challenger is strong enough. If not, then the challenger simply doesn't survive the encounter, simple as that. There's that aspect of it, but there's also the woman's feelings to take into account. If she's powerful enough, she may decide to fight for her relationship regardless of the strength of the one she's with, because strength has nothing on emotions. I've seen that kind of caste system broken many times, be it for a weaker man or weaker woman." There was a threat written between the lines of those remarks, and the men of the class shivered for no apparent reason.

Kaien continued yet again. "Pride is a very prominent aspect in both of these cultures, but I've noticed that the action taken is mostly behind the scenes in this culture and very open and brusque where I've come from. Gossip and rumors spread unease and discord among the people here, and where I've come to a certain extent, but mostly physical confrontations are preferred over verbal warfare, however it has its place in gathering others to their cause first. To tell the truth, I've noticed that here it's mostly bark and no bite, while where I've come from they only bark _while_ they're biting."

Mrs. Kojima gulped silently and readjusted her glasses again. "Just _where_ did your dad get into politics??"

Kaien merely smiled. "Let's just say it's far, _far_ away."

One of the men of the class snorted. "You forgot the part about 'a long time ago in a _galaxy_ far, far away.' You're full of bull, and if you want bite, I'll show you bite."

The eldest Kurosaki's eyes narrowed at what was undoubtedly a challenge. Before anyone could do so much as blink he had vanished, and the entire class looked around in confusion. Kin, she was looking around in fear, because what he had just done could easily jeopardize the spiritual realms.

"Oh really?" A smooth, murderously low voice asked with silken amusement out of the blue.

The entire class nearly jumped out of their seats, but the man that had called him out more so, because the voice had breathed down his neck like the hiss of a snake to a cornered mouse. He—and everyone else for that matter—looked behind him quickly and who should he see but the person that had just been standing at the other end of the class, looking down on him with freakishly yellow eyes that promised pain.

"You wouldn't even be able to _see_ me, let alone _touch_ me enough to actually do any damage. Since the bell's going to ring in two seconds I'll tell you this now that I'm no longer a member of your class. You try to go after Kin again and I'll rearrange your outsides to match your insides, got it?" Kaien smiled mockingly and gave him a 'friendly' pat on the shoulder, just in time for the bell to ring.

Mrs. Kojima gulped again and tried to disregard the disappearing act that seemed to be beyond explanation and launched into her usual pre-vacation rant. "A-All right everyone, remember to flake off your homework, _except _for today's Japanese lesson! When you're partying, you have to be a little immoral for it to become a good memory! Okay everyone!? Try to stay alive 'till January and have a good vacation!! Class over!!"

It was almost like she had just announced summer vacation, because all the students tore out of the room like the devil himself was on their tail. Then again, that may have also been because they had just gotten an up close and personal look at Kaien Kurosaki when he wanted to look menacing.

All but the young man Kaien had just threatened, who stood defiantly in front of Kaien with his teeth barred. "You sound so high and mighty, but even a dog can only take so much bark before he bites!" With that he struck out, regardless of the former display of speed, but was shocked when Kaien didn't move, and yet his fist had been blocked like it had been standing still by a thin feminine hand.

Asuka walked in front of the young man with fire burning inside her baby blue eyes. She had been coming to do something with Kaien and Kin, as this was the first opportunity they had to do something together in the Living World without any worries about school. The gigai was uncomfortable, but she had gotten used to it after a while. Not having the mask-fragment on her jaw-line still disconcerted her to no end.

"You so much as touch him and I swear your afterlife will be _very_ uncomfortable. Got that, loser?" she growled lowly and pushed away the offending fist she had been forced to catch. Well, she hadn't been forced, but it wasn't like she was going to allow some nameless punk to punch the Prince of Hueco Mundo. It was a useless gesture because there was no doubt to the fact Kaien could have beat him over the moon in less than a second, but it's the thought that counts. The man didn't move, in fact he seemed petrified, so Asuka gave one last snarl at him and within the second he was out the door, the door which Souken was currently entering through.

Said Quincy grimaced when the teen pushed him out of the way, not so much from any discomfort at the action, but like he didn't even like the fact that he had been touched by someone as simple as him. "Sheesh Kurosaki, it's the day of Christmas Break so you just have to go and pick a fight before you leave. You really need to grow up," the blue-haired teen stated nonchalantly as he smiled, showing that the remarks had been exactly what they had been intended as: a joke.

Kaien made a face at the approaching archer. "I'd tell you where you can stick those words, but I think you know what I mean by now."

They heard a gasp and they all turned towards the teacher, who looked like she was almost in tears. "There's no mistaking it…" Misato muttered happily. "If that's not little Souken Ishida then I'm losing my mind."

Souken smiled like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar and waved sheepishly. "It _has_ been a while Mrs. Kojima. I'm happy to see you well," he stated, as formally as ever.

They saw her look over, and then she stared as if seeing a ghost before she took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes repeatedly before she put them back on, just like she was making sure. "Wha-What's wrong?" Asuka asked, acutely aware that the stare had been directed solely at her.

She was almost crying again, and they had no idea why. "It's just…I could have sworn you looked like one of my old students for a second. But that's impossible, I know! She's been dead for almost nineteen years! Maybe I really am losing my mind!" she mumbled to no one unparticular aloud.

Asuka caught on rather quickly. "Oh! You must have been my mo…ah hehehe, I mean Chizuru's teacher, weren't you?"

Misato nodded sadly. "I'm surprised you've heard of her. She was so healthy, I never would have thought she could just die like that so suddenly. Not even a year after graduation…"

Asuka walked over to her and put a comforting hand on one of her shaking shoulders. "I'm sure she's fine wherever she is, right?"

Misato Kojima gave a chortle and nodded. "Yeah. Even in the afterlife she's probably too busy chasing girls or gallivanting around with that blue-haired…" her words trailed off gracelessly as she looked back at Asuka and finally inputted the blue hair and eye markings, those almost identical to the blue haired man that had entered her classroom so unexpectedly all those years ago when she was still teaching Ichigo and the others. "In fact…you look almost exactly like what they would have had if they had had kids."

Asuka felt the sweat drip down the back of her neck. _Maybe coming here wasn't the smartest plan I ever had…_ she thought with an inaudible gulp.

It didn't even take a second later and both Souken and Kaien had grabbed an individual arm and pulled her out the door, where Kin quickly followed. "S-Sorry, gotta go! See you after break!" she explained lamely and rushed off after the other three that had run away only seconds before being absolutely busted.

The person formerly known as Misato Ochi sighed loudly.

"They're just as crazy as their parents."

………

"Dodged a bullet there!" Asuka said in relief as she wiped her forehead. She shrunk back a bit at her husband's and best friend's sarcastic glares at her. "Well hey, I needed to go in there anyway, who'd have thought she'd have such a good memory?"

Souken sighed and resisted the urge to compulsively readjust his glasses. "I've been around your mother for a long time, and from what my dad's told me about her high school years, she's not a very easy person to forget." He gulped at her glare and this time the urge was too large to overcome. "I-I meant that in a good way."

Asuka crossed her arms underneath her ample bosom and turned her head away snottily. "Suuure you did."

Kin snickered beside them. "Trouble in paradise already?"

This time it was _Souken_ who did the glaring, and Kin almost shrunk back. _Almost_. He cleared his throat softly. "Asuka, I apologize for my earlier comment. Are we okay?"

Asuka stopped with a rigid back and turned to look back at him, and though she still had a frown on her face, it was obviously forced. She cracked sooner than Kaien would have thought, but then again staying mad at someone you love is a pretty hard thing to do. Especially when said someone is a Quincy archer, who can say anything in the deadliest of seriousness while still sounding remorseful. "Gah!" she acquiesced with a huff. "Of course we are!" She did sound pretty miffed that she hadn't gotten to stay mad though.

Kaien saw Souken grin and before anything else could be said the archer had taken her in his arms and pulled her startled face to his, where the shocked eyes quickly closed as the skilled lips of her lover and husband reminded her in physical form what she meant to him. When he pulled away her cheeks were flushed in a healthy red glow, and she had no problem leaning against him as they all continued their walk to Kaien's house. He wasn't about to go out wearing the school uniform.

"You know I don't think I've ever seen anything make her so compliant so quickly. You should have done that a long time ago," Kaien teased with a contemplative look.

Asuka growled a small warning and snuggled back up into the slender shoulder she had been leaning on. Souken…well, he simply turned red, but the smirk on his face got wider. Male egos are a very quickly inflated after all, and with a woman like Asuka at his side, he had every reason to be proud.

Kin was already feeling left out, seeing her friends so blatantly flaunting their togetherness. She was walking right beside her boyfriend, so logic quickly declared that since he was right there and it was a win-win situation, she should just take what she wanted. Without warning she too stepped closer to her love-interest and put her arm in his as she leant on his arm. She wished she was taller, because unlike Asuka—who only had a few centimeters worth of difference between her and her lover—she was nearly an entire head smaller, and putting her head on his shoulder was quite the feat when he was standing. Kaien, though thoroughly enjoying the display of affection, quickly noticed her discomfort.

The Shihouin heir was surprised and disappointed when Kaien took his arm away from her and she started to look up at him in confusion, but before she could even meet his eyes his arm had been wrapped around her shoulders and she was pulled gently into his side. _This_ she hadn't thought of, but she was certainly glad he had. Her body tingled instantly when pulled into contact with his warm, hard body and she practically melted into him. She fit like she had been made for this spot, and leaning her head against him was no problem now.

Asuka looked over, curious as to why the mocha-skinned annoyance had been quiet for so long, and smiled ruefully when she saw the other pair, and Kin's face was just as aglow as hers had been previously. She suppressed a snicker. She wasn't the only one nearly drunk with love after all.

They were so close to his home too, but right before they opened the gate, a _different_ kind of gate opened right beside them. The familiar circular gate that was the door to Soul Society opened and one figured stumbled out, holding another to his chest frantically and he fell to his knees panting as he tried to keep the person in his arms safe.

He had grown, but that was to be expected. Nineteen years going by tended to change people, and as was the case with Toshirou Hitsugaya, it was only a matter of time before his reiatsu reacted to his relationship and spurned on a growth spurt.

Indeed, it was Hanatarou Yamada who came stumbling through that gate, but it was under anything but normal circumstances. The four that had unwittingly bore witness to his arrival noted instantly the person in his arms was wearing a shihakushou cut and torn in many places, though there were no cuts on the person herself. That was quickly explained when they saw the other thing he was holding as carefully as he could, and Hisagomaru's gauge was almost full again even though it was already released. Considering the fact that the man himself still had a variety of wounds on him, it was common sense that the wounds that had been absorbed were all from the woman in his arms.

For it to be enough that the healing zanpakutou's gauge was almost filled again—and who knows how many times before—suggested either a terrible lover's quarrel, a horrible beating, or one heck of a battle. Since he had come _here_ though, Kaien made the pretty safe assumption that it hadn't been a battle because then his division would be able to handle him easily. Then there was also the fact that if Hanatarou even raised his voice against another living thing he would apologize, so a lover's spat was out of the question. That left one last possibility, and that could only be explained and confirmed by the person himself.

Kaien's eyes widened in shock. "Uncle Hanatarou, Miss Nemu!" He cried and rushed to help the young man that seemed to be struggling to keep consciousness.

The healer looked over and smiled weakly through his swollen eye and bloody lip. "Thank God, I made it." With that weak smile still on his face, his visible eye rolled back and he fainted

Nemu was still out cold, so Kaien disentangled her from her lover's arms and quickly passed her to Souken while he picked up the surprisingly heavy body of Hanatarou. "Let's get them inside quick! Dad and I can heal him in there!"

With a serious nod, the other three followed the yellow-eyed man as he ran like a man possessed into his family's home.

He had a bad feeling about this.

………

**Author's Notes:** I believe this is the shortest chapter in this entire story, so don't worry, the others are usually longer. Nice to see people are still viewing this story, though I get the feeling many are checking it out and going to read the prequel story first, so that's alright too. Anyways, thanks to those that keep reviewing!!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	11. The Scarlet Creation

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**The Scarlet Creation**

**.**

Kin sat silently around the large table sitting dead centre of the dining room, watching her boyfriend sleep soundlessly against the wall. The reason for that being it was right by the door leading to where the two injured parties slept quietly. Ichigo had had to finish the job, but only after Kaien had completed nearly everything under his guidance. He was still learning after all.

Nonetheless, he had exhausted himself. There were only a couple of severe injuries on the soft-spoken healer, but there were numerous other wounds and that required time and a good deal of reiatsu to heal. They had only done a cautionary evaluation of Nemu, but that was because Hisagomaru's ability was nothing short of miraculous, and they knew there likely wasn't anything left to heal.

Now he was dead to the world and his hair had fallen out of its former position and hung limply around his head, blocking his closed eyes from view. She had never noticed how long it really was before, and that wasn't even counting the extremely long ponytail that now resided around her neck.

She was knocked out of her thoughts when Asuka returned and set a cup of hot chocolate in front of her as she sat down. "Still watching him huh?"

Kin nodded and took a grateful sip of the hot drink. Whatever plans they might have had had been thrown out the window and it was now pretty far into the evening. The healing had taken longer than she would have thought, but then again she had never seen the Fourth Division in action before. She didn't know it would have taken even longer if Ichigo hadn't resorted to healing directly with reiatsu and opted for reiatsu-enhanced bandages instead.

"I…don't think I really believed him before today," she muttered softly, and Asuka quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Believed what?"

The bronze-skinned woman smiled, though it was visibly forced. "I thought he just didn't want to go back to school but…he really did it didn't he? With a little more training he could already be a member of the Fourth Division…eh?"

Asuka smiled proudly. "Ah, that's it. You didn't believe he could be a doctor already." Kin nodded sullenly. "Well he didn't get like that overnight. He wanted to be like his dad, but mostly he just needed something to do while he was bedridden. There was no shortage of volunteers for helping him flip pages, that's for sure."

Her friend scowled mockingly. "Now you're just trying to make me jealous."

The blue-eyed hybrid was nonplussed. "Hey, in case you hadn't noticed, he's got some serious looks going for him; and if you remember what I've been telling you for the past couple of weeks…"

Kin groaned. "I know, I know: stronger the partner, stronger the offspring."

"Hey, don't get mad at me; that's just the way things are. There are exceptions, and they're becoming more common nowadays, but that's still how most Arrancars view it."

The platinum-blond teen had to forcibly keep the blood from rushing to her cheeks. She knew 'it' only meant one thing when it came to Asuka.

"So…what do you think happened to them?"

The gigai'd woman knew what she meant, and she allowed them to change the topic. That didn't stop her from thinking, _Wuss_. "Who knows. I've met Hanatarou a few times before, but not enough to know him very well. This whole situation of him coming here is strange though. Why would he come here instead of going to his division headquarters?"

That just earned a shrug. "He must not want to stay in Soul Society for some reason."

"Meh. Guess we'll have to ask him when he wakes up."

The casual conversation was cut short when they felt the tremendous force of many unknown reiatsu push down on them, and considering that there were reiatsu inhibitors in the house, that meant there was either one very strong person or _many_ strong people. Kin looked over at Asuka for some kind of explanation and saw the blue-haired woman's eyes were wide, then they narrowed and her mouth lengthened into a gritting snarl.

"Those bastards! Why now of all times!?"

She quickly jumped out of her chair just as Souken ran into the room from where he had been talking to Tatsuki. "Dammit, again?" he asked Asuka seriously, to which she only nodded. "Do you think they know about the Queen's pregnancy?"

Asuka's scowl deepened. "That's the only reason they would have to attack here! Those screw-ups, it's as if they knew Kaien was out of commission! Where's Ichigo??"

Souken didn't answer for a few seconds, as in that time he had ran over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. After differentiating the flow between her gigai and her, he quickly muttered the incantation his mother used so often. "I Reject." With the flow between her gigai and her gone, Asuka's spiritual form was pulled from the fake body instantly and she quickly reached for her sword. "Ichigo went to take Tatsuki to Hueco Mundo. We have no idea if it's a two-pronged attack. She'll be safer there even if Las Noches is under attack, and at least that way he'll be able to send reinforcements if need be."

Kin was confused, but she quickly changed into her Shinigami form and followed them as they ran to the nearest door. "What are you guys talking about!?" They all ran out the door and instantly looked up, where a huge number of animal-like beings were looking down on them. Kin blanched in horror. "Holy…"

Souken and Asuka both just glared. "The Adjuchas."

"There's so many of them…"

The daughter of the former Sexta Espada snorted derisively. "You haven't seen Kaien and Ichigo in action. This is enough for the first wave, though one of the largest there's ever been. Ever since the Hougyoku was absorbed there have been more and more Menos' reaching the Adjucha level."

Souken merely scoffed as he rolled up his white sleeves before activating his bow in an explosion of blue light. "There's not as much reishi here as in Hueco Mundo, but this should be more than enough. No more time for talking, we can't let them get to Kaien."

A body suddenly whizzed by them and shot up into the air, where a huge explosion of reiatsu signaled the destruction of one of the Adjuchas, while the others scrambled away and readied themselves for their assault on the house. The three still on the ground looked up in shock to see a white-clad, white-skinned young woman looking down on them with a fierce face. _**"It'll be a cold day in hell the day that I allow anything to harm my brother!"**_ Tsukiyomi fumed out angrily and glared at the large expanse of Hollows as she held her sword at the ready. _**"Bring it on you Vastro-Lorde wannabe's! Answer The Cries Of The Moon, Amaterasu!"**_

Kin stared in wonder as the white blade in the hands of Kaien's little sister warped and elongated, until a thick black blade tinged in the color of blood stood out from a dark gold hilt with the same kind of deep crimson threading. Dangling from the end of the handle at the end of a small loop was a long golden sash that ended with an identical metal ring. While she was looking at it, the blackish-red blade suddenly exploded into pitch black flame that licked at the air in controlled fury.

"What the hell is that?" she murmured in shock.

Asuka grinned sadistically. "She's the black moon's daughter. Tsukiyomi, the Moon Reader, has the black sun as her zanpakutou. Its dark flames rival that of Ryuujin Jakka, the strongest of the fire-type zanpakutous."

The sounds of battle soon started with the inner-Hollow-esque young woman tearing into her opponents with her dark flaming blade swinging. Souken wasn't about to let the middle Kurosaki child have all the fun, and with a slight hop, Hirenkyaku had taken him into the fray and arrows started flying as the Adjuchas engaged their enemies with animalistic ferocity.

The two left on the ground stood shocked for all of a second. It didn't take long before Asuka smiled a smile that reflected just how much she was her father's daughter. With swift movements she had her hand on her sword's blade and with a familiar release cry she took off into the air in her complete feline-like form.

The sound of a door being opened from behind her drew Kin's attention and she looked over to see Masaki calmly walking out of the house with her hand on the normal zanpakutou sheathed at her side. Her usually kind orange eyes were sharp and deadly and Kin gulped unwittingly. "What are you still doing down here? Would you not be fighting if Kaien were right now?" Kin shook away her shocked state and tightened her face into her familiar battle frown. "I thought so. Let's go too Ikki, we can't let anything get near Kaien right now."

Kin had already turned away and drawn her sword, but she turned back out of curiosity to see who the youngest Kurosaki had been speaking to. The blood drained from her face when she saw Masaki pull down her hand from her forehead and a white bone mask accompanied it down, the dark red markings eerily like her father's located on the right side of her mask instead of the left. Before her very eyes, she witnessed the orange-haired young woman pull the mask directly off her face, but the yellow eyes lined by pure darkness didn't stay on her face, instead they too went with the mask, filling in the eyeholes that should have been vacant. Kept held at eye-level, Masaki let go of the eerie mask and it _stayed_.

The daughter of the Goddess of Flash watched in terror as the white mask melted in the air and drew an outline of a body with its remnants. Like a sketch being filled in the outline gained form and function, and the Hollowized eyes that had floated in the air like the only visible parts of a specter gained a face to hold them. When it was all done Masaki stood in front of a carbon copy of herself, albeit a completely white version.

The Shihouin heir held her breath for no real reason as she watched them, but she nearly fell on her face when the white Masaki let loose a girlish squeal. Stretching widely, she soon launched herself at the real Masaki until she was held in a rather intimate looking hug. _**"It's been too long!!! Finally!"**_

To Kin's surprise, Masaki actually _returned _the hug and stroked the wavy white hair the same length as hers softly. "I'm sorry. I know you get lonely but these past few weeks have been pretty hectic. I didn't want Tsuki having any adverse effects on you while she was readjusting."

The inner-Hollow sighed dramatically and looked up at the sounds of battle that still raged overhead. _**"These freaks are in for some pain. I've finally been given some time out here and they're interrupting it!"**_

"Guess we'll have to finish this quickly then, won't we?" Masaki stated smugly and the being she called Ikki scowled deeply.

"_**You always do this to me, you know? It's getting irritating. Maybe I don't **_**want**_** to help you this time?"**_ she huffed out indignantly, though even for an inner-Hollow her face looked obviously hesitant. Before Kin even knew what was going on the youngest Kurosaki had pulled the other version of herself to her and gave her a deep, full-on _kiss_. Kin nearly fainted from the blood that rushed to her face but it was over rather quickly and thus she was spared that fate, though that certainly didn't mean her cheeks weren't still glowing healthily.

"Do you really mean that?"

Ikasam smiled devilishly and licked her lips. _**"Not a chance; but I got what I wanted, didn't I? We still have to find a man for us sometime in the future, so there's no way I'm letting you die anytime soon."**_

Masaki smiled her usual, kind smile that was so unassuming one really couldn't know her true potential. "Shall we then?"

Her other walked over to her side and turned to look in the same direction as her host. _**"Like you really have to ask?"**_ she replied sarcastically.

In complete unison they drew their swords and jumped into the intense battle still raging above. Kin blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes just to make sure she hadn't been seeing things, then she sighed confusedly. "I don't think I've ever heard of an Inner Hollow acting like that before. Good grief, this family is just messed up when it comes to powers."

She wasn't about to allow herself any more time away from the fighting, and so with a swift movement of her hand her jacket had been discarded and Shunkou blasted to life on her back.

Finally, Kin Urahara-Shihouin had joined the fray.

………

To any outside observer, it would seem like a suicide mission. Six people against a good two-hundred-plus evolved Menos Grande's. The thing to be thankful about was because of their incomplete evolution, the Adjuchas didn't have zanpakutous. The downside of that same fact was that they didn't _need_ them, they were their own best weapons. They ranged in size from almost human-like to near skyscraper level, and they were facing two—three if Ikasam counted—fourteen year olds and three nineteen year olds.

Definitely suicide…were the opponents in question not the children of some of the strongest beings the worlds have ever known.

Kin was a blur in the air marked only by the blue lightning that flashed every time she appeared. Her punches had the force of tornadoes and her kicks were no less when it came to power. The blasts of lightning she could shoot from her hands were just as terrifying as the blade in said hands as it cleaved through opponents like butter.

She was no fool to being attacked from behind, and before her newest attacker could even get his arms around her she had jumped back and locked her ankles around his head. There was a sickening twist and with a shattering _snap_, his neck was broken and her zanpakutou had been driven through for safe measure.

She was easily as fast as her mother and the number of opponents almost blotted out the sky. Moving within such a filled area was hard, though that also meant no swing of her sword hit dead air, and instead always hit something, be it hand or head. She hadn't called out her sword, but that wasn't needed thanks to Shunkou adding dense Kidou to every strike. Her bright golden hair shone in the light of her technique and her eyes were mischievous even though the situation was so dire.

There were certain aspects of her mother's nature she just couldn't hide.

Tsukiyomi was as vicious as her father in her strikes, though there was planning behind the blows that belied the angry movements of her blazing black sword. One by one limbs and heads met the end of her blade and the intense inky fire destroyed them instantly. She was no slouch at Shunpo, though her opponents weren't too stingy on using Sonido either.

With a steady hand she parried the claws of a large Adjucha away and watched as the being drew back its hand in pain at the black fire that had held it at bay. With such a great number of opponents, no side was left unguarded and she soon had stopped another strike only to find yet another attacker coming at her from behind. She gritted her teeth and with practiced movements, slipped her foot into the loop at the end of her zanpakutou's cloth. She surprised the opponent in front of her by yanking her foot back and adding strength to the force of the blade's hold, slicing through him in one fell swoop before she let go of the handle and swung the sword behind her with her foot, coming up right between the legs of the other Adjucha that had been charging at her and slicing him clean in two.

Now around her ankle, she rotated the sword like a jump-rope and closed her eyes serenely like a dancer. Flames circled her form as the blade swung around her as she switched it from foot to foot and she flipped into action, sending the already swinging blade through another target as her movements changed like a rhythmic dance and burned through Hollows left and right without her even looking at her opponents. Like Kaien, she had an acute sense of reiatsu and it wasn't too hard for her to sense her foes as she danced with the clothed zanpakutou. She smiled as she felt the cloth extend and retract as she looped it around her wrist and sent the blade flying in an opposite direction from what would be expected only swinging from her feet, but the beauty of zanpakutous is that the laws of the Living World rarely apply to them, and having something like an infinitely extendable cloth is nothing. Case in point: Zangetsu.

It almost looked like it was going to hit her many times, but every time she would grab the ribbon at just the right time and was able to easily direct the momentum of her fiery sword. Opponent after opponent fell to her tricky tactic before she would once again start the spinning process with her feet.

She was a white ghost, spiriting from place to place like an elegant dancer dancing to a tune only she could hear while menacing black fire roared around her, yet didn't harm her. One by one they purified around her yet even more took their place. Never once did she falter, and it was only thanks to that that she was still alive. Suddenly a hand had reached out and grabbed the cloth and Tsukiyomi tripped and fell onto the air as her reiatsu kept her up. She looked over in fear to see an Adjucha had managed to grab the cloth and now her flaming blade was dangling harmlessly from its hand. Suddenly, she was at the mercy of all the beings around her.

In a charge they all came at her, and she shut her eyes tightly while trying to harder her Hierro as much as she could. It was a wasted effort, because before they got close a giant blast of energy had destroyed them all, and her zanpakutou fell back into her control once again. She looked over in confusion to see a man standing on air about twenty feet away with an outstretched fist in front of him. His dark bronze skin was only offset by his even darker brown hair and she could see one eye visible from under his long bangs. He was a good 6'5" and proportional to his height, and both of his arms were encased in black armor; a shield-like left and a regular yet spiked-like right which had spikes that flowed over his chest from the arm they were connected to. Though a zanpakutou was sheathed at his side, he didn't use it.

"_**Chad!"**_ she cried out gratefully. She hadn't seen the large son of Yasutora and Halibel in what seemed like ages. He nodded to her and then turned to attack the rest as she smiled and restarted her elegant movements, being sure to keep her sword as fast as it could possibly go to defend against another mishap.

A little distance away, another battle was taking place. One look at her sister and anyone would know the gentle teen was just as fierce as her mother in battle. Masaki and Ikasam were much less elegant in their strikes, but that was only from the point of view of the dancing style their sister used. Theirs was no less awe-inspiring. Theirs may not look like a dance, but they were smooth and synchronized. When one slashed right, the other slashed left. When one slashed up, the other slashed down. If one was in danger of being attacked from behind, the other would defend, and if one was being attacked, two swords always met that opponent.

They were in complete unison almost down to their breathing. Their moves matched each other perfectly with no words being said or any hand gestures made. They simply reacted to the situation in ways that would use the both of them to their fullest potential, and the Adjuchas had no defense against their swordsmanship as they evaporated faster and faster under the purifying strikes of the zanpakutous.

One Adjucha attacked Masaki's blind spot and without even blinking Ikki had blocked the blow. The sound a dead giveaway, Masaki turned around and sliced through the attacker without even looking at her inverted half, and surprisingly she didn't even come close to hitting her. It was as if they could see through each others' eyes and it was no less breathtaking to look at than Tsukiyomi's graceful dance of death.

"_**I haven't had this much fun in a long time!"**_ Ikki cheered with a sick grin as she sliced through yet another Hollow. Masaki quickly blocked the next attacker and like she hadn't even been paying attention, Ikki threw her sword to the side offhandedly and it flew over and stabbed straight into the ugly insect's head.

"I can see that," Masaki answered ruefully as she parried a blow but was unprepared for the amount of force behind it and was launched at the ground viciously.

"_**Masaki!!"**_ The inner Hollow quickly rushed after her other half and was able to get behind her to soften the blow. That didn't mean she didn't feel it when they both hit the ground and hit it _hard._ _**"Damn, that'll leave a mark…"**_ she moaned pitifully as she tried to get her breath back.

They weren't the only ones hurting, as even with the abilities of those present there were too many to completely fend off. None of them were totally unscathed except for the newest arrival, but he was gaining a few wounds every now and then before he obliterated the attackers. From Asuka's battered state to Souken's sweaty one as he tried to fire arrows while disregarding the bloody state of his left arm—the one he need to fire his arrows—all of them had their own wounds. Kin's were far more serious, as they had managed to get to her legs in the time she had been fighting and now large gashes adorned her left leg. She wasn't a master of Shunpo for nothing and she could still move at a freakish pace with only one leg, but eventually the wound would catch up with her and she would be unable to move at the pace she needed to keep up her attacks and defense.

In a battle like the one they were in, any second wasted was a second closer to death and they both looked up in fright to see a horde of Hollows descending on them. They were in no position to repel them and even getting into an attack position would be hard from their crater, so they looked on like death itself was coming on them, and in the form of gnashing, animalistic Hollow teeth.

Before they could blink, the bloodied Kin was in front of them, but there was no stopping the attack that was like a tidal wave, regardless of Shunkou's abilities. Nevertheless, it seemed Kin was prepared to die protecting her boyfriend's family.

"GETSUGA TENSHOU!!!!"

Their eyes widened when a huge wave of blue energy ripped over their crater and their protector, vaporizing the enemies that had been approaching them in the situation that had seemed so futile.

"Daddy!"

"_**Daddy!"**_ They both cried out in relief, and quickly jumped out of their crater.

The battle around them seemed to stop as a reiatsu almost as powerful as Ichigo's pushed down on the air with crushing force, and everyone turned to see the new arrival. It wasn't friendly either, it was _dark, malevolent_ even. It was, in a word: _evil._

It wasn't Ichigo who had released the trademark attack of Zangetsu, but _Kaien_.

No one moved as the reiatsu roared viciously around them and the young man stood like Death itself outside the door, the large black blade in hand. His hair shielded his eyes from view and hung in spiky waves around his head, and his white jacket had been discarded somewhere to reveal his bare muscled torso to the world. His breaths came in heavy pants that showed in the terse movements of his spiritual body, but there was clearly no way he was going to let that stop him.

He was still obviously exhausted even in that form, but when his head moved and his eyes glared up at the arrivals there was no doubt that he was _pissed_. His yellow eyes were glowing so brightly the bangs of his hair were lit in their light, and his muscles were tensed so tightly they were bulging against his skin. The larger cause for concern was that his eyes weren't _only_ glowing like beacons, what was worse was one eye had already completed its Hollowization and the black ink was clawing at the sclera of his other eye, trying to complete itself.

Kin was staring in wonder. Had she not had Shunkou activated, there was no doubt in her mind that she would be on the ground right now under the tremendous force of his reiatsu, in her injured state or not. _How much stronger did you really get over those five years?! _she thought in panic.

A low rumbling caught her attention and she looked up in curiosity to see dark thunderclouds boiling in over what had been a clear night sky moments before. She could see the realization strike her friends though, because their faces—even Chad's usually emotionless one—were contorted in horror. Less than a second later they quickly vanished only to reappear in front of the small crater, tackling the twins back into it too.

"Get down!!" Asuka yelled frantically over the growing sound of thunder.

Even from where they were, Kin was still able to see the glittering metal as things fell from the sky and rained down on their opponents. She saw them try to scramble away but many were hit and some even in vital areas, where to her surprise they _evaporated_ like in purification. That was quickly explained when the torrent stopped and Kin was able to look around and see that the shower had actually been _zanpakutous._ They varied in shape and size, and from what Kin could only assume: ability.

There were almost too many to count, and it took a second for her to realize what had happened. "Sweet Lord in heaven…" she muttered breathlessly.

They were Kaien's zanpakutous.

"Reign Over The Frozen Heavens! Hyourinmaru!!"

They all watched as the exhausted body of their friend—or in a few cases, family—launched over their heads with the familiar blade in hand and shot wave after wave of instantly frozen water at the hordes of enemies. The Adjuchas tried to get away but to no avail, and many met their end in the face of the red-eyed ice dragon. That explained the weather at least.

Kaien wasn't nearly done yet, and after discarding the blade and reaching out his empty hands, two more shot up into his outstretched palms. With the simple movement of putting his hands together what had once been two blades became one. Floating over the unsuspecting masses, he brought the sword up beside his head and muttered another release.

"Suzumushi Form 2: Benihikou!!!"

As he swung the sword out, the hundreds of blades that came from it flew down on his enemies. Those not absolutely destroyed by the assault were pinned to the ground, only to be terrified when they realized the swords weren't actually sticking into the ground. No, for the ground beneath the blades' points was rippling, and they could only watch in pain as the blades disappeared beneath the earth. Going through the excruciating ordeal of cutting through the holes they had made in their targets in the process.

Kin watched in amazement as the sky seemed to darken further and from each of the hundreds of blades that had disappeared, a thousand blades rose up from the ground, these ones larger than some of the largest Adjucha there. This was far more than Byakuya Kuchiki's Bankai, this was a fusion of zanpakutous to make something far more deadly.

Something almost beyond comprehension.

The giant blades seemingly countless in number stood in the air for a horrifying second before Kaien finally spoke the true name in an eerily calm voice.

"Bankai. Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

For those in the crater, their entire _world_ was glowing pink flower petals.

In what seemed like a moment the blades had passed and disappeared and they all looked up to see the night sky again…and there was only one Adjucha left out of the hundreds that had been left even after their previous efforts. Kin watched as he landed on the ground and the two zanpakutous fell to the ground beside him in their sealed forms, yet all he did was continue to glare at the remaining Adjucha.

"You think you can come here, to _my_ home; attack _my_ family, _my_ friends!?! You think I'll let you get away with hurting _my_ love!?! You expect to take over the realm of Hueco Mundo and here with ME protecting it!? Now you listen asshole, I'll die before I allow that to happen!"

He didn't reach for any of the innumerable swords around him, no, instead he raised his arm to the side and from his outstretched fist glowing red light started gathering. They saw the Adjucha's eyes widen in fear and he ran away into the sky, hoping to reopen the Garganta.

It wasn't a Cero summoned to fire, for as she watched she saw the intense spiritual energy flow up his arm and all of a sudden red lightning exploded from his back with the sound of a resounding thunderclap. The red energy tore up the ground as it sparked from his back and his hair flew around him in disarray from the force created by his technique.

Kin gulped heavily. Right then he looked…amazing. His muscled chest was sweaty and glowing in the light of Cerokou, and his glowing yellow eyes fighting off the black threatening to take them over were glaring at the retreating form of his last enemy from under their tattooed lids. He looked like a fallen angel on ragged wings of darkest red. Simply…beautiful.

In a blast of wind and a burst of red light he had vanished and she shot her head over to the Adjucha just in time for her to see him land a punch to its stomach so hard she could feel the shockwaves from where she stood. Before the animal-like thing could recover he started battering it every way with his fists, and thanks to the extra speed he gained he was able to catch up to the thing before it hit the ground every time and punch it a different direction.

She half-expected him to call out 'hidden lotus.'

The agonized cries of the Adjucha tore at her heart, but she wouldn't allow herself to feel pity for one of the beings that had tried to attack Kaien's home. She could see the armor-like skin get battered and break with every new punch or kick sent to him, and she winced at the bloody mess he had become.

With one last angry kick, the human sized Adjucha had been shot straight up into the air and like a bullet, Kaien took off after him, sending one last punch to its gut that echoed in the strange sound of a Cero gathering before the red attack blasted him apart almost instantly after the punch was sent.

In less than ten minutes Kaien had annihilated the entire assemblage.

Kaien spit at the ground in disgust at having to fight above his home but that was the last thing he was able to do. The seven in the crater watched as clarity drew on them as his zanpakutous disappeared, and the body still hovering in the air fell to the earth like a rock.

"Kaien!"

"_**Kaien!"**_

"_**Kaien!"**_

Masaki, Ikki, and Tsukiyomi all shouted at once. They should have realized in his exhausted state, no matter how strong he was, he still wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. It was probably a good thing too, because any longer and there was no doubt to the growing strength of his Hollow nature, something which wouldn't have been satisfied with simply the destruction of those enemies. They rushed from the crater and the three of them were able to catch the body, immobile from his use of his zanpakutous, though that wasn't even noticed because he had fallen back asleep, completely and utterly exhausted.

Kin wanted to go with them, but since she had deactivated Shunkou, her cut leg could barely support her, let alone move her at the speed she needed to catch him.

"Hello," a soft male voice greeted, and they all—but Chad—jumped in surprise and turned around to see the adult Hanatarou Yamada behind them. "I'm sorry I was so much trouble before. Nice to see you again Miss Asuka, and you too Souken and Chad." Even as a taller adult, he still addressed everyone formally. Without saying anymore he examined their wounds and withdrew his zanpakutou. "This won't hurt a bit."

Kin still flinched when he brought it down and even though she knew Asuka had Hierro, it was impulse. Thus her surprise when once the blade struck, all of Asuka's wounds disappeared, and the process was repeated with Souken then large bronze giant that was Chad Sado. The gauge on the blade was almost filled and though she didn't know what that meant, she still allowed him to 'cut' her and she groaned happily when she felt her wounds vanish.

"Fill up, Hisagomaru," he muttered softly and Kin watched as the zanpakutou shrunk to the scalpel-like sword she had seen him carrying when he arrived. He walked over to where Masaki and her other as well as Tsukiyomi were seated around their brother and squatted down by him. "This one should help you recover a bit faster. I'm sorry." With that apology in advance, he looked over Kaien's left arm before choosing an acceptable spot and placing Hisagomaru's edge there. "Back away please. I only want him to get the smallest part of the release." Those around him nodded and jumped away.

To Kin's shock, Hanatarou sliced his blade upward and a huge slash of energy burst forth from the tiny blade, tearing through the ground away from Kaien's arm. Hanatarou was a good judge of distance, and the released energy only clipped his arm slightly in the exact spot he had wanted. Even exhausted and asleep, the body of Kaien still started shaking as the wound healed and yet another zanpakutou was added to his collection. The soft breathing of his sleep turned ragged but with the energy released, Hanatarou merely tried to 'cut' him again, and his breathing immediately evened out.

"What did you do?" Kin asked in wonder as she walked up beside him and knelt down beside her boyfriend.

Hanatarou smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "My zanpakutou absorbs the wounds of those it cuts and once the gauge fills, it can release all the energy in one huge strike. I went to see Ichigo and the others many times while they were in Hueco Mundo, but because of Hisagomaru's ability I was never able to give him a cut so he could use it too. Thanks to your injuries I was able to do that, and hopefully it'll help him. From what I understand of his power, I should have helped him get over the seizures faster."

Kin breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sure he appreciates it. I'm—"

Unlike the old Hanatarou, this time he actually interrupted someone. "Miss Kin, aren't you? I've heard many stories about you from Kaien when I went to visit. He talked of you often," he remembered fondly, and Kin felt herself blush under the soft-spoken man's words. "We should go inside now; he needs his rest."

The group which had now fully assembled nodded at once. Chad picked up the form of his fallen friend as he lay sleeping like he weighed less than nothing, while Kin followed right beside him. After he had been put into his bed, the others that remained awake sat silently in one of the living room areas of the giant dual-purpose mansion that had been given to Ichigo and Tatsuki. It wasn't uncomfortable, but there was a sense of surrealism that came after such a large fight. They had all been fighting for their lives, and it had ended so abruptly they didn't really know what to think.

"Would you care to tell us how you came to be hurt and exhausted right in front of this house?" Souken asked Hanatarou in typical Quincy straightforward fashion after the long silence.

Hanatarou's always uncertain eyes darted to the side. "I think it would be best if I waited until Ichigo was back until I explain everything."

The Quincy nodded in understanding. "So Chad, what brought you here?"

Chad glanced up from where he had been talking quietly to Tsukiyomi. "Ichigo and the others were fending off an attack on Las Noches. He and Dad thought it was a good idea for me to come here because of Kaien's exhaustion," he responded, with the same low and gentle voice that made his father who he was.

"It's a good thing too," Tsukiyomi muttered, almost bitterly. "If you hadn't arrived when you did I would've been vulture fodder."

"Yeah, it was the same thing with me and Kaien's grand entrance. Even in his exhaustion, he still defeated all those things so easily. I had no idea he could also use the Bankai's of his zanpakutous," she said, unable to keep the awe out of her voice.

"That took some serious time to achieve," Asuka answered bluntly. "It isn't that he uses the Bankai of the swords he's absorbed…well, he does, but since there are no spirits with those zanpakutous because he himself is the spirit, he basically forces _himself_ into Bankai." She saw Kin gulp, and knew the genius teen understood. "He didn't force any of the spirits into submission because there aren't any; he had to force _himself_ into submission. That meant he had to have complete control over his body, and that's harder than it sounds. Until…you know, I've never seen him get so close to losing control. I don't know how he knew when he had done it enough to gain the Ban release, but somehow he did. Must be a part of his nature I guess."

Kin looked down sadly. She knew what 'you know' meant, she knew very well. She wasn't going to let that happen ever again. "Amazing… Shikai, Bankai, and that crazy Cero version of Shunkou too; how much more power can he get?"

Ikki gave an unladylike snort and flicked some of her white hair behind her head as she resumed cuddling into Masaki's side like she didn't like the interruption of conversation. _**"Who knows? All four of us don't even know if we **_**have**_** limits or not, so the way I see it is as long as we're still alive we'll get stronger. Simple as that."**_

Kin still couldn't help but be a little perturbed that there was a spiritual entity that should be restricted to the inner world of Masaki out in the physical world. She bit back her uncertainty under the knowledge that the Kurosaki's were anything _but_ normal, and such an occurrence shouldn't really be that surprising. That didn't stop it from being so, but it would lessen over time.

She hoped.

All they could do now was talk and wait until Ichigo and Tatsuki came back and Kaien woke up. They would be no help in Hueco Mundo and they had to stay there if there was another attack, especially with Kaien still incapacitated.

It was a tense wait, to say the least.

………

Ichigo mumbled a curse as he stepped out of the Garganta with Tatsuki right beside him. One of the Adjuchas had gotten lucky and managed to slice open his arm pretty good, so he had bandages covering the healing appendage but it still didn't like being moved. He hadn't let Tatsuki fight, naturally; he wouldn't do anything to endanger the baby. _Anything._

As they stepped onto the ground of their immense backyard they could see the remnants of the battle that had taken place. Scorched ground was everywhere, as were many broken pieces of earth or concrete from either feet, paws, or numerous impact points. What instantly alerted him to the change the battle had taken was the frozen pieces of ground and roof in a few places and the many stab points embedded into the ground and cement patio. They both knew that could only be caused by one thing, and the incredible reiatsu that hung in the air even now confirmed their thoughts.

Kaien had fought too, and he hadn't been nice about it either.

"You alright?" he asked his wife as she stepped out of the Garganta, just to make sure.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips in frustration. "I'm _pregnant_, Ichigo, not _disabled._" Unlike him, she was still in her physical body, as unlike Soul Society, Hueco Mundo didn't need special exchangers to change the physical body into spirit form. It was unknown what would happen to the baby if she left her physical body when pregnant, as it was common knowledge that the body went into a near-death state when the soul was pulled from it, so the effects that would have on the baby was impossible to determine.

Ichigo wasn't going to risk it.

He hated leaving Hanatarou and Nemu in the states they were in, but his first priority was his wife's safety and he also had to make sure Hueco Mundo was safe too, which true to his predictions, it hadn't. There had been no warning for the attack at all, though there rarely was before. He should have known it would have taken a few weeks for word to get out about Tatsuki's pregnancy, and even then it would have taken at least a day or so before the Adjuchas found out about it. It had been plain bad luck that Kaien had exhausted himself just hours before the attack.

He opened the door for his wife and she sighed dramatically and stepped inside, where he followed. When they came to the living room they saw all occupants of the house awake and waiting, except Kaien and Nemu.

"So, was there only one wave this time?" he asked outright, just to make sure.

Tsukiyomi nodded. "Yeah. They were stronger than usual though. If Kaien hadn't have woken up then…yeah…I don't know how many of us would still be here talking to you." She saw her father's eyes widen in fright and she winced subconsciously. She hated making her dad worry, because talking to Ogihci when Ichigo was worried wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, and she loved talking to both aspects of her father.

"It was my fault," Masaki admitted ashamedly. "I got me and Ikki into a bad situation and we couldn't fight back in time. If we had released our swords it would've been a different story, but by the time we realized that was even necessary we had made our own crater and were in no position to call them out. Kin tried to help us but she was in pretty bad shape too. If Kaien hadn't been there we would've been goners, but Chad, Tsuki, Asuka and Souken would have probably finished them off after that."

Asuka bit the inside of her cheek nervously. "I didn't want to use Desgarron here. I might have been able to destroy most of them but I also would've destroyed most of your home."

Ichigo smiled softly at the worried second-generation hybrid and walked over to put a hand on one of her shuddering shoulders. She had an ingrained fear of him just because he was her King, regardless of how she treated her Queen. "It's okay Asuka, I never asked about what you did or didn't do. The important thing is you're all okay and they're all gone."

Asuka mumbled an incoherent thank-you and buried her head into the chest of her husband. The powerful teen would never admit it, but she had been scared to death of retribution.

Ichigo stood up straight and let loose a long exhalation before he flopped down on one of the unattended couches and Tatsuki—while sighing at the childishness of her husband—followed suit. "Finally home! Hanatarou, glad to see you up and about, you okay?"

Aforementioned man nodded. "I'm very well now, thank you."

"Oh don't thank me," Ichigo retorted comically. "Kaien did everything, I just guided him along every now and then."

Hanatarou's eyes widened even wider than they were in their natural state—which was saying something—before they softened. "It's almost hard to believe how much time has passed. Before, I lost track of time so easily, and in a bad way. Ever since you came and everyone started having children it just seems to fly by. He's just like you." It was strange to think of someone like Hanatarou as an elder, but technically he _was_ older than Ichigo, so who knew how many years could have passed him by already.

"Did something happen in Soul Society? I know the Adjuchas attacked here and Las Noches, did they also attack Soul Society?" Ichigo asked concernedly. He still hadn't forgotten about the state Kaien and the others had found him and his lover in. He had never seen Hanatarou look so distraught before, and that was something, considering the Fourth Division was constantly looked down upon.

"N-No," he stuttered. "There was no attack in Soul Society. Everyone's fine, and missing you by the way. Even Miss Rangiku has been complaining that her little girl hasn't been able to play with the twins for a while."

Tatsuki rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah, we haven't been to the Society in a while, have we? Christmas Break just started, so I'm sure we could persuade everyone to go for a little vacation, right?" she asked, and the three girls nodded, though Ikasam likely wouldn't get to stay out during such a visit.

Ichigo glared playfully up at his wife. "BUT, we'd have to have a gate with Spirit Converters, because right now we can't have you leaving your body. You haven't forgotten that little fact, have you?"

Tatsuki crossed her arms over her chest and fumed silently. "_No_, Mr. Worrywart, I haven't forgotten that little fact."

Being a medical specialist, Hanatarou was able to quickly read between the lines. "Miss Tatsuki…you're pregnant?"

Ichigo grinned broadly, the same dumb-ass grin that looked way too much like his father's. "She sure is!"

Hanatarou lowered his eyes and wrung his hands together worriedly. "Congratulations."

"Hey, what's wrong?" the orange-haired captain asked immediately after noticing the way his friend was acting.

"I too, have also become pregnant," a gentle voice said softly from behind them, and everyone in the room looked over simultaneously to see Nemu Kurotsuchi standing in the same ladylike pose she always did right behind them.

Ichigo's face instantly lit up. "Hanatarou!! That's amazing news! Why didn't you tell us earlier!?"

The same worried face and wringing hands answered him, and he looked in confusion at him as Nemu walked over to her lover and sat down in his lap gently, something she wouldn't dare do in the open in Soul Society.

"Master Mayuri was not pleased when he found out. Our relationship has remained hidden for the past nineteen years, and this was not the best circumstance under which to tell him," she explained formally, just like she always did. There was a tinge of sadness to her voice though, and almost unimaginable pain just beyond its borders.

The normally calm and stoic woman openly cringed when she _saw_ the realization gradually dawn on the bright-eyed captain, as those bright eyes went wide before they narrowed to almost inhuman proportions. She knew his skin wasn't getting lighter because he was paling in shock. Oh no, he was undergoing a very frightening change that was a very powerful part of who he was.

"**I'll kill him!"** Ichigo hissed viciously as he slammed his fist down on the coffee table so hard it shattered, and everyone in the room jumped except Nemu and Hanatarou. His reiatsu vibrated around them in his anger and Hanatarou clutched Nemu closer to him as if he could feel her fear growing without her even saying anything.

"Please Ichigo, all we ask is that you give us a place to stay for a little while. The wounds I gave Captain Kurotsuchi should take him a while to heal, so please don't rush out on our account."

The white-haired Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at him. **"You hurt him?"**

For the first time in his life he saw Hanatarou's eyes harden in hatred. "He hurt Nemu. I wasn't willing to give him the possibility of hurting our baby, but I couldn't stop him from hurting her, as much as tried to."

With what was obviously a great deal of difficulty, Ichigo calmed down and let loose a long breath that took his White Transformation with it. "Fine. I'll give the bastard 'till after Christmas. December twenty-sixth we're going over there and I'm making sure nothing will _ever_ happen to you two or your child, diplomatically or not, got that?" It sounded more like a threat than a promise.

"Y-Yes," the healer stuttered.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he shrunk back when he saw the yellow pigment start overtaking them again. "_Diplomatically or not._"

To his surprise, Nemu actually nodded with what was definitely great _relief_ written on her face. "Thank you, Captain Kurosaki." It sounded sincerely heartfelt.

Ichigo had never been able to keep up an angry front in front of a woman before, and it had even less effect when said woman looked like she had finally found a reason for living again. His eyes softened and he smiled embarrassedly. "Ah, don't worry about it; and Ichigo's fine by the way. You can take whatever room you want, I'll be sure to set up a barrier around it so you won't be disturbed unless you want to be."

Nemu stood up from where she had been seated and bowed gratefully. "Thank you Ca…Ichigo." She looked over at her lover with the same demure look she showed everyone, but this one had actual warmth in it. "Shall we check our accommodations then?"

Being the person he was, what else could Hanatarou Yamada say? "Sure."

Leaning lovingly on her significant other, the two left the living room.

When they were gone, Tatsuki set a hand on her belly softly. "It looks like you won't be alone little guy," she crooned lowly and allowed herself to relax into her husband's side when he sat down beside her and joined his hand to hers.

"_**You two are such a bunch of saps,"**_ Ikki groused irritably. The others in the room had been thinking it, but only an inner Hollow would have the courage—or what could be better known as stupidity—to voice it out loud.

Tatsuki looked up and sent a mother's most potent weapon at the inverted half of her daughter's soul. 'The Evil Eye.' The white teenager gulped heavily and seemed to shrink in size while trying to crawl back into Masaki by force. Ikasam wasn't any ordinary garden-variety inner Hollow, but even she could be intimidated. The fact that she _recognized_ the fact that Tatsuki was her mother was the greatest driving force behind that.

Kin was the only one alone. Chad was sitting by Tsukiyomi, Asuka was with Souken, Masaki was with…herself, and Ichigo was with Tatsuki. Even though Chad and Tsukiyomi weren't a couple, at least they were talking. Kin didn't know what to say anymore. She had alienated herself for five years from these people, and though conversation wasn't impossible, it was hard to initiate when this many of them were together. It wouldn't have been so awkward if Kaien were with her, but he was exhausted beyond comprehension.

_Come to think of it, I'm pretty tired too,_ she realized almost laughably late. Fighting a battle like the one they had just been in had taken it's toll, and staying up even later on watch for any more waves after that hadn't helped matters. There were two options for a situation like this, and she found she liked one far more than the other.

"Umm, would it be all right if I spent the night?" Kin asked while stifling a large cat-like yawn.

Ichigo smiled warmly. "No problem. Not only did you fight a battle you had nothing to do with, but you were prepared to die for my daughters from what they've said. Even if we hadn't known you since you were knee-high, you'd still be getting the presidential treatment in my books. Thanks for everything, Kin. Have a good night."

She nodded sleepily. "Kaien wouldn't have hesitated to do any less. But thanks, I'll do that." With that, she forced her unwilling legs to move and left the room.

She wasn't going to a guest room. There was only one place where she felt comfortable beyond description, and she wasn't going to be somewhere else when she could be there. She opened the door softly just in case, and smiled as even in the dark, her unique eyes made out Kaien's form sleeping motionlessly on the bed. Even if his body wanted to move in his sleep, as he was, he probably couldn't move a muscle. She returned back to her physical body and sighed in relief at the difference in material between her two forms. She was still in her school uniform, as they had been going to stop off at her house after they had went to his, because hers was on the way to where they were going to go. Both outfits were comfortable, but her Soul Reaper garments were sweaty and bloody and these weren't, so the one more likable was obvious.

She removed the precious scarf from around her neck and undid her hair from its usual ponytail. Had she been at home, she would have changed into her pajamas, but be it that she wasn't and she had no energy left for Shunpo, she would just have to sleep in what she was wearing for tonight. There was always the option of sleeping in her undergarments, but since Kaien _would_ eventually wake up, she didn't want him to think badly of her considering they hadn't even gotten to that stage yet—whether she wanted them to or not. She looked over offhandedly and suddenly a much better solution appeared to her, one she preferred much more.

She slipped off her uniform and picked up the discarded shirt she had seen thrown on one of his dressers. Just like she thought, the white school shirt he had been wearing for the past few weeks was almost three times too big on her, and it covered her perfectly while being loose enough to offer mobility in her sleep. On a whim, she lifted the collar now hanging limply around her neck and sniffed heavily. Instantly the scent she knew almost as good as her own hit her nose, the scent she reveled in every time she raised the scarf he had given her to her nose. Though the two scents were definitely from the same source, they were different. The weaved hair and silk of her scarf smelled natural with a tinge of what she could only guess to be remnants of shampoo and conditioner, while the shirt around her smelled like the unique musk he exuded mixed with the light addition of cologne. This was the scent of her love, and the scent she wished she had had all through the five years he had been away.

Needless to say, the shirt was quickly adopted as her own.

She nestled into the place in his side she had found she fit in perfectly and relaxed into him as she found sleep harder and harder to elude. It was almost funny; they could sleep in the same bed together, but they wouldn't _sleep_ sleep together.

"I love you Kaien," she whispered sleepily before her eyes closed and she nodded off almost immediately after.

Kaien's arms wrapped around her protectively and even while sleeping, a small smile formed on his face.

This was one thing even his exhausted muscles would force themselves to do.

………

Kaien hated waking up like this. He could move, that was something to be thankful for, but his muscles ached. Bankai took more out of him than simple Shikai, and that was seen more in the state of his body than the time he needed to wait before he could move. There was no time difference, just a difference in how his body reacted.

His aching muscles finally seemed to input that they still had nerves attached, and that was when he noticed that not only was there extra pressure being put on him, but that the thing making that pressure was soft and warm.

And in his arms.

He forced his eyes open and was relieved when only dim gray light answered him, rather than bright white. That meant it was early morning, either that or it was overcast outside. He looked down and his eyes widened when he saw the sleeping woman cuddled up into his side, the thing which he had his arms around. Her chocolate skin wasn't anything like his healthy peach, and he had to admit she looked absolutely gorgeous meshed against his pale side. He could feel one of her legs wrapped over one of his own, and he looked further down to see the bare flesh of her sculpted leg covering the one of his nearest her. It was then he noticed that he seemed to be seeing a lot more skin than he was used to, and hesitantly he trailed his eyes up her leg to thankfully be stopped by the flap of white material.

_Wait a minute, something's not adding up here_. The school's uniform fit her so perfectly it was almost a crime, so for it to be going that far down either meant it was longer than it looked or…. The answer hit him when he took a sniff in, and he gulped heavily while he cursed the problem that afflicted every male in the morning, now having no reason to go away.

The shirt was his.

Damn if that hadn't been one of his fantasies for the longest time. To wake up with her in his arms with only one of his shirts covering her; that was practically every male's dream when it came to the person they loved. He was thankful they had put him back in his body before they had let him sleep, because getting into it was always uncomfortable after recovering. It was a lot easier to simply go through the process while in it. That, and because his physical body still had pants on. Her bright golden hair was strewn everywhere around her head, and it was stunning to look at. He had to see her awake with it down. Ever since he had come back he had never seen her without it, and sleeping she looked like an Amazonian goddess with a river of gold seemingly flowing without end from her dark skin.

He shuffled away from her slightly so he could rest on his side rather than his back and much to his chagrin, she instantly whined in loss and cuddled right up against his chest and further into his arms.

_Boy, did that plan backfire,_ he thought while fighting off the blush rising on his cheeks. Feeling soft feminine flesh almost directly against his pelvis was a situation any man would dream to have, but for his plan to work he had to wait. Now, getting his hormones to agree with him was another matter altogether.

Carefully, very, _very_ carefully, he scooted down until her sleeping face was right in front of his, and not only did it give him a much better view of her flawless face, but it also removed his hips from being all but pasted to her. Taking a hand off her side, he gently caressed it down her cheek and smiled lovingly when he saw her smile in her sleep and give a small _hmm_ of approval. She looked like an angel when she slept, but then again to him she looked like an angel even when she was wiping off the dirt from her face after just destroying a Hollow with her bare hands.

He could have lain there all day and simply watched her sleep, but her lips were looking more and more tempting the more time went on, and finally he gave in and set a small kiss against them. Her _hmm_ was more pronounced this time, and her arms came up over her head to try and stretch only to hit the hand that had stayed softly on her cheek. She blinked sleepily in confusion and out of curiosity she grabbed what had stopped her stretch, thus putting her small hand over his larger one. She smiled contently and rubbed the hand down her cheek again. Even half asleep, she knew whose it was.

"Good morning," she mumbled half-lucidly as she finally opened her eyes for the purpose of seeing and as soon as her eyes adjusted, she was gradually confronted with the face of her boyfriend, smiling over at her like he had just watched the sun rise.

"Good morning to you too," he whispered back, and this time it was her who suddenly threw an arm lazily over his neck. When her hand grabbed the back of his head she pulled him to her, thus allowing her to press her lips to his in full consciousness.

If waking up could be better than this, she didn't see how.

"You're wearing my shirt," he pointed out with a smile.

She looked down on the crumpled white garment she was wearing then back at him. "This is my shirt," she replied with a pout, and he instantly smiled wider. That was exactly like Kin all right.

"Of course, I wonder what came over me?" he played along, and in response she snuggled back into him and breathed in heavily from the crook of his neck.

"Hmmm, I like the source much better though."

_God, could her voice get any sexier!?_ Her voice was low, sleepy, and had an airiness to it that showed her contentment. It was the absolute sexiest thing he had ever heard.

A shiver went through him and he put his head at the nape of her neck too, far more affected than her when his hypersensitive nose inhaled her scent. "Well wouldn't you know it, that belongs to you too."

She grinned into his skin. "I'm going to hold you to that," she whispered huskily, and the shiver that went through him that time was far stronger.

He smiled and moved her so they could kiss again. He would never tire of her lips. Never. "Soon, I promise." It was almost comical, how the roles had been reversed. Usually it was the woman that held back, and this time it was the man.

Instead of pouting, she smiled adoringly and rubbed a lithe hand down his cheek. It felt way better than it was supposed to. "I know. I'll be waiting." She surprised _herself_ with how patient and loving she sounded. Love did that to people, and so did the fact that she had a plan of her own.

"Breakfast?"

She nodded and rolled away from him onto her back and stretched out, cracking her back off the bed and thus jutting her chest straight into the air before she fell back to the bed with a relaxed sigh. Kaien was fighting the blush off his face with renewed vigor, as the long stretch had made the shirt ride up and he was sure the white material on her legs wasn't that of the shirt.

_Four more days, four more days, four more days…._That was his mantra, the thing he used to will his uncooperative body into submission again. He sighed when his body finally went back to normal and he shuffled off his bed and stood up to his full height to do a stretch of his own. He heard a sharp gasp behind him and he would have turned around, but he wasn't able to because she was right behind him in less than a second, running her hands down the long scar running from his right shoulder to left hip.

"What is this!?" she asked concernedly, and he sighed again.

He had forgotten about that one.

"No matter what, the first cut I get from a zanpakutou I've never been cut with before scars over. This is one of the few that managed to catch me off-guard; that's all. A sparring match got a little too heated and I ended up getting my ego handed to me on a platter," he explained, trying to make light out of the wound. The Vastro-Lorde that had done it had been mortified beyond belief that she had actually been able to hit him like that and it was only because of that that she was still alive, otherwise Ichigo would have purified her right there. The funny thing was she was now Kaien's lead Fraccion.

He felt her arms wind around his waist from behind and her head was pressed against his back, molding herself to him like a lover who didn't want their love to leave. "You're always getting hurt because of me. If I hadn't kissed you back then you wouldn't have released your reiatsu and you wouldn't have gotten hurt by that Menos, and if I hadn't gotten hurt by that Menos then you would have stayed with me and not left to train. It seems like you're always getting hurt because of what I've done."

While trying to disregard the thoughts of how female emotions can turn on a dime, Kaien turned around in her grip and hugged her back. "I'm not getting hurt because of you, I'm making the choice willingly. If anything, I'm getting hurt _for_ you. If I can get stronger by gaining an extra scar or two so I can protect you better, then I'd do it in a heartbeat. The pain of these cuts was short-lived, but just thinking of you getting hurt because of my inability to protect you lingers in my heart for far longer. If I can take these scars so you won't have to, they'll be cuts I'll feel no shame in receiving."

Her grip around him got tighter and she nodded into his chest, trying to fight off a bout of sniffles that was unlike a woman of her strength. "You're just a chauvinistic male," she joked weakly.

He chuckled lightly. "Oh no, I don't doubt your ability to beat me into the ground, but I can't be your knight in shining armor without getting a few war-wounds, can I?"

She gave a reluctant laugh. "You're such a damn sap, just like your dad." This time he smiled and gave a full laugh as he stoked his hand through her long unbound hair, something he realized he liked just as much as seeing it. Maybe he'd have to talk to her about leaving it down sometime.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now come on, let's go get some breakfast."

She nodded again, but she wasn't quite ready to let him go just yet.

………

The day had gone by without a hitch after that, and it was the most fun Kin had had in a long time. It didn't even matter what they did, because as long as she was with him it was fine. It was abnormally cold, even though it _was_ winter, and the jacket she usually wore just for show had actually become necessary.

Kin Urahara woke up the next day feeling invigorated and refreshed, something she usually only attributed to shampoo commercials. She smiled as she stretched out on her bed at home—sleeping with Kaien was nice, but she couldn't really justify it to her parents unless there was another battle without insinuating…other things—and welcomed the new day. As she got up she felt it: the first inconvenient cramp. Immediately her mood soured, another aspect of that particular function.

That right there pretty much eliminated any chance of seeing Kaien for the next two days.

One part of her wanted to go and see him anyway, but the other, more prominent part beat that part down rather harshly and reminded her what had happened the last time this had happened.

_This is just great, and only three days before Christmas too!_ She fumed. That meant the next time she would see him would be Christmas Eve, and though that worked perfectly for her plan, she hadn't anticipated not being able to see him _at all_ for the time between those days.

Going into her daily routine briskly, she quickly phoned Tatsuki to make sure the information was passed along, even if his mother had to make up another excuse. She hated the fact that her boyfriend would have to be so personally aware of her bodily status. It didn't help that that put a bit of a wrench into her plans. She needed to prepare, and yet in this state he would easily smell her. She could hide her reiatsu easily, she was a master of Kidou after all, but hiding her scent wasn't something she was used to or was even sure was _possible_ to do.

_Wait a minute. Kidou…._ She thought as an idea struck the genius teen. It wasn't so much the word Kidou that had triggered her idea, but a more expansive part of that word: barriers.

Her sly grin would have made Ogihci proud.

It was time for her to do some shopping, both for Christmas gifts and…_otherwise._

"Joy to the world…" she snickered mischievously as she rubbed her hands together in glee.

She _did_ take after her father too after all.

………

**Author's Notes:** I know, this chapter really makes light of the suspense of the previous chapter. Don't worry, there's still plenty more of that, and angst, to come. Other people have enjoyed it, so I hope you all will too. See you next chapter!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	12. It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year**

**.**

Kaien stepped back and admired him and his family's work. Their house had officially been 'Christmasized.' The giant tree in their living room was decorated and on full display, and Christmas ornaments and other decorations, everything from holly to tinsel, were everywhere else.

Finally, it was beginning to feel like Christmas.

It was only three days until the long-desired holiday, and this year Kaien was holding back his excitement for a completely different reason too. Three more days. Three more days, and his plan would be put into action. His sisters were looking forward to it too, but that was because any holiday where they got gifts was the greatest in their minds. Of course, Masaki and Ikki shared everything they received because one of them only came out for extended periods of time every once in a while, but Tsukiyomi was like a dragon.

That was to say she wasn't the best at sharing, but that mostly came from her Hollow possessiveness.

One thing had come up though, and it didn't really put any kinks into his plans, it just kind of made him a bit sadder. Tatsuki had come over to him over the course of their decorating and gave him the debilitating news that Kin was going somewhere for a couple of days and wouldn't be able to see him. She was very convincing, and blunt as usual, but the way she bit the side of her lip as she turned away clued him into the thought that she was lying. Christmas shopping hadn't been done yet, by Kin at least from what he knew, so that was one possible explanation, but after thinking it over some more the highly intelligent teen finally had the revelation. He smiled softly.

_Thank you, Kin._

So there were some discrepancies between dating a regular human and dating a super-powered, possibly unstable Hollow-Zanpakutou-Shinigami, but had there really been any thoughts otherwise? He had hoped not, and apparently it hadn't taken long for the genius that was his girlfriend to learn from past mistakes, no matter how absurd they sounded.

Still, now that meant he had nothing to do until—likely—Christmas Eve, if what his medical textbooks said was true. _Oh joy_. He had things he could do of course, but there was a difference between staying away from a loved one willingly and doing it because there was no other choice.

He had been told all about the planned trip to Soul Society by now, and he didn't want to go until his plan had been accomplished. It wasn't a simple plan, it was actually quite grandiose, even if it was rather simple in places. He needed to finish it before he went, but not for the reasons many people would think. He still burned with anger every time he thought of the injustices done to the innocent-looking Nemu, and that one of the gentlest men he had ever known had suffered so badly for her was both a great act of love and what caused him anger. That kind of thing should never be the response when one announces they're pregnant, and he couldn't wait to get his hands on one of the few captains that hadn't come to visit over their five year stay.

From what he had heard though, he already didn't like him.

After forcing himself to calm down from the fury the thoughts evoked in him, he sighed and went outside, where he made the hop onto the roof of their house look easy. He rested on the slightly cool tiles and looked up at the sky. Honestly he didn't know what to do with himself anymore. Before, his life had been training, now, he didn't know what it was. He knew one thing: he wanted Kin in it, but other than that he was at a loss.

His father was a doctor, and soon he would be too, and the privileges from Soul Society made money inconsequential. What else was there to life? He had yet to experience everything, and he looked forward to it. There were three whole worlds out there, and he had only explored one in greater than normal detail. His thoughts quickly changed after he remembered that. As long as Kin was with him, time didn't matter.

This would be a Christmas to remember.

………

Yoruichi could hardly contain herself. It was the Christmas Eve, the time of the surprise she had set up for the Kurosaki family. She knew for a fact that they all got together every Christmas, that is: all the siblings and Isshin, so it would be the perfect time for a surprise five years in the making.

The chocolate-skinned woman bounced away from where she had been, whistling a cheery tune.

Away from the many gigais she and her lover had made.

She found her lover doing—for once—nothing, and with the mood she was in she was perfectly ready to go and join him. They didn't know what Kin was doing, as she had holed herself up in the training area for the past two days and had put strict regulations down that _no one_ was to enter.

Imagine their surprise when their door opened and what they could only assume to be a customer walked in. It was even more to their surprise that it was Kaien Kurosaki. He took an experimental sniff of the air just to make sure it was safe for him to go in, and from the relief on his face it was a pretty safe guess to assume he had smelled nothing.

"Um, is Kin here?" he asked hesitantly, and from the way he said it, they got the impression he _didn't_ want her to be.

Yoruichi rolled her eyes dramatically. "She's here, but she hasn't come out of the training area in a while and we're under strict orders 'not to disturb her,'" she said in a sarcastic recital of her daughter's original request. She noticed the way he breathed a sigh of relief with interest.

"Good. May I talk to both of you for a little while?" he asked, and if Yoruichi didn't know any better, she'd have thought he was _nervous._

Seeing no reason to turn the request down, they both got up and followed him out the door. They didn't really know why he kept walking, but they knew enough about Ichigo's son to not bother asking questions. It seemed like he wanted to get out of any kind of range the Urahara Shop might hold. They knew when he was going to start talking though, because when he stopped and turned around to look at them, his face was deathly serious. They didn't know _why_, but that was inconsequential.

Imagine their shock when he fell to both knees in front of them and bowed his head to the ground. "Before I go any further I have to apologize. I beg of your forgiveness, because even though I promised I would protect Kin I almost hurt her myself. Please forgive me, I had no idea it would happen."

She didn't even have to look at her lover to know he was wearing the same expression she was: that of soft understanding. She had been told everything by Tatsuki just for her own peace of mind, and she knew what had happened was absolutely beyond anyone's control. That, and there was one very important word in his sentence: _almost_. Had it been 'I _hurt_ her myself,' she would have happily broken all of his limbs with her bare hands, but since it was 'almost,' she could allow him the luxury of his life.

"Not to worry Kurosaki-san, we understand completely!" Urahara answered for the both of them in his sing-song voice as he patted the bowing man on his shoulder. "Remember though, hurt her and I kill you~~!" he continued just as sweetly, and Yoruichi gave a small cough to fight off the laughter that wanted to come out.

Kaien sighed gratefully and stood up—regardless of the threat on his life said so casually seconds before. He understood perfectly. "What I hope to do today should eliminate that chance."

They both cocked curious eyebrows at him, and without skipping a beat Kaien asked them his question and in response _both_ eyebrows went shooting into their hairlines.

_This_ they should have seen coming.

………

Ichigo Kurosaki was a master at swordsmanship, the supreme authority when it came to wielding sharp weapons. As he looked over the task in front of him, he huffed in concentration and looked over it again. He had faced down many foes of the greatest strengths, and this wasn't something he hadn't encountered before.

Still, he might just need Bankai for this.

He picked up the weapon in front of him and steadied his hand as he targeted his foe. It stayed immobile, like it was glaring at him in challenge, and the vein in his forehead throbbed.

Now or never.

"Watchaaaaaa!!" he cried exaggeratedly, and then the blade in his hand became all but a blur in the air as he hit his target repeatedly with perfect precision, never once taking his eyes off his prey.

When the smoke cleared, the orange-haired man stepped back and smiled proudly down on his work before putting the knife in the sink and stepping away from the kitchen counter, where a silver tray lay with finely cut meat sitting elegantly on it.

Ichigo Kurosaki: turkey carver extraordinaire.

He felt a pair of warm arms encircle his waist and a head set itself gently against his back, since she wasn't tall enough to put her head on his shoulder from behind. He placed his hands over hers and smiled softly. "How are you doing?"

It had been about a month since Tatsuki had found out about her pregnant status, and as such the changes weren't completely noticeable yet, but if one looked close enough they could see the gradual swell of her belly growing with each passing day. It had become a Christmas tradition to wear the kimono's they had made as exact replicas to their shihakushous, but be that as it may Tatsuki would have been wearing it anyway. It was much easier to make looser as she grew and not look like a neon sign by wearing maternity clothes.

She sighed happily against his back. "I'm just great. This little one is giving me less trouble than Kaien _or_ the twins."

Ichigo loosened her grip around him with his hands and turned in her embrace so he could hold her too. "This is the first Christmas we've had at home in five years. I still can't believe it's been that long already, it seems like just yesterday Kaien was fighting off cooties from Kin and the girls were wondering which doll they liked best."

Tatsuki chuckled and reveled in the break she had taken from cooking the rest of the supper while Ichigo had been doing the turkey. He had tried to make her not do that either because he thought that was pushing it, but she had so helpfully reminded him that he wasn't the best at cooking. She _might_ have threatened to start a fight with him too, but she wasn't very good with '_might_'s, she preferred '_did_'s. "Better get used to it. I hear eternity is a pretty long time."

He kissed the top of her head in response. "Eternity with you? I think I can live with that."

Again, she chuckled. "Sap."

He smiled toothily. "What you say is what you are!"

She knew the perfect way to close those lips of his, and she was leaning up to do so when the doorbell rang. Ichigo cursed under his breath at the interruption and Tatsuki couldn't help but laugh. "Why does my old man always have the worst timing!?" he groused irritably, and grudgingly removed himself from her hold to go answer the door. It hadn't even come to mind that it might have been one of his sisters, but that was probably because only someone like his father could have that kind of timing.

"KAIEN! TSUKIYOMI! MASAKI!! Get ready for supper, Grandpa's here!" the pregnant woman called out loudly, and instantly the patter of heavy footsteps could be heard coming down the long hallways leading up the kitchen table, soon followed by the black blurs that were the kimono-clad teens.

Ichigo shook his head in amusement as he went to the door, and whether it was the reiatsu inhibitors of his home or the unawareness of contentment, he opened the door like he would any other time. "Sheesh, took you long enough this ti—GAH!?!" he was cut off quite abruptly when he didn't see his father, and instead some mid-sized and many other little bodies came jumping at him.

"Uncle Ichigo!!!!" A whole chorus of voices cried at once.

_BAM!_

All too soon the mass brigade had tackled the stunned orange-haired man and had him sprawled out on the floor, with a dog-pile of children with a vast array of hair colors on top of him.

"Okay okay everyone! Move aside! Give your parents some room to get the food and presents in or you're not getting any!" Karin ordered sarcastically as she stepped precariously over the pile of people with a large pan in her hands.

Ichigo knew the kids on top of him weren't just restricted to his black-haired sister. If he didn't know any better, he'd have surmised there was a couple of Kurosaki's—also known as Schiffer's now—but there was at least one Ishida, one Sado, one or more Abarai's; he hadn't heard the voice in a while, but he was sure it was one Ukitake; and if he had to be absolutely honest, at least one Hitsugaya.

Ulquiorra stepped in next after his wife, carrying a few brightly colored boxes, stopping only momentarily at the door to look down on the mass tangle of limbs that the many children had reduced themselves to. "Interesting," he muttered with a small hint of amusement before he walked on through.

A hand shot out from the bottom of the pile and suddenly the group scattered as Ichigo burst out from the bottom. "So that's the way we're doing it this time eh!? 'Tis the season for tickling!!" And the God of Flash took off after the many running children as the guests welcomed themselves in, while Tatsuki went to take her husband's place by the door.

Orihime and Uryuu were next—while Souken and Asuka just walked on by—and Tatsuki barely recognized the proud archer. Uryuu's hair had gone completely white since the last time she had seen him, but it was still as full a head of hair as any teenager would have, and still styled exactly how it had been when he still fit under that category. It was to be expected, after all, his father's hair had been fully white when he was only sixteen, and since Souken was almost nineteen, that meant the change had to have happened for a while now.

"Tatsuki!!" the orange-haired woman that suddenly appeared beside him yelled excitedly and all but threw herself at her lifelong friend. Tatsuki caught the woman that her old friend had become carefully and they hugged like schoolgirls. "It seems like it's been so long! If Souken hadn't decided to stay in Hueco Mundo it would have almost been...I don't know by now!!"

Tatsuki smiled at her friend's airheadedness. "Good to see you too, Orihime!" She looked over her friend's shoulder to Uryuu. "Quite the distinguished look you've got there Uryuu. Feeling a bit old?"

Uryuu just barely smiled and suddenly a flash of Hirenkyaku had him right behind the embracing pair. "About as old as you look," he replied simply, having easily noticed the physical changes of his friends' bodies. "But then again my son got married before any of our groups' children, so that's making me feel a bit older than it should."

"Ha ha," she mumbled and released Orihime as more people walked in.

Surprisingly, Rangiku and Toshiro Hitsugaya were the next ones through the door, bearing even more food and presents in their arms. Next was Chad—also known as Yasutora—and Halibel and their oldest, also named Chad. After them were Jyuushiro and Retsu Ukitake, looking as carefree and gentle as ever, and Jinta and Yuzu after them. The last pair to come in was Renji and Rukia Abarai, the same as they always were in their gigais.

"Wow," Tatsuki muttered. "Is it really okay that so many captains have left Soul Society?"

Renji shrugged lackadaisically. "It's fine. Even with this many gone we still have some of the strongest left there. It's no biggie. Where's Ichigo?"

A sudden crash alerted their attention, followed by massive giggling.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Off chasing the kids that tackled him, thank you very much."

Rukia examined the decorations of the house with appreciation, seemingly not dignifying the slightly sarcastic remark with a reply until, "You make it sound like you don't want us here." She sounded almost hurt.

_Stupid acting skills,_ the once-tomboy thought, though it was impossible to stay mad. "Not that, it was just unexpected."

"That's what we wanted to hear!" a sensual feminine voice said proudly, and the three looked behind them to see Yoruichi Shihouin and Kisuke Urahara at the door, along with Kin right beside them.

Tatsuki slammed her palm to her forehead. "Jeez, at least now I know where the gigais came from anyway." She saw Kin start to smile and then hold out her arms, and it was only then she noticed the footsteps fast approaching them, before just like earlier, a black blur flew by her and soon Kin wasn't standing anymore. She was hoisted up into her boyfriend's arms and just as she had time to wrap her arms around his neck—despite their parents watching—they had kissed in full view of everyone.

Rukia's mouth went dry as she turned around and even Renji was staring beside her. From behind, he looked even more like Kaien than Ichigo, something only made worse by him having the same name as her dead mentor.

"Well I'll be damned…" Renji whispered. Even though the teenager had his hair smoothed back like he usually did, the resemblance was still uncanny.

"Auntie Rukia!"

She heard someone shout excitedly, and before she knew what had hit her, Kaien had her in a hug exactly like the ones of his childhood, except now he was a lot—a _lot_—bigger than her. Fighting back the tears—and struggling to keep the breath Kaien seemed determined to force out of her—she returned the hug gratefully. "Kaien…"

He set her down soon after, and Rukia and Renji were almost taken aback by how different his piercing yellow eyes were now, besides the tattoos that reminded them a bit too much of Grimmjow. He grinned toothily and displayed his left arm to Renji. "Cool, huh?"

Renji grinned back in response. "Ya still got a long way to go, but one arm's a good start." He was startled by Kin's sudden and deadly glare sent his way. She may be centuries younger than him, but she looked the part of the adult she was, even if it was only by a year.

"If he has reason to tattoo any other part of his body there'll be hell to pay," she hissed venomously. Only when Kaien used his exposed left arm to rub the back of his head sheepishly did they notice the scars when the indents they created caught the light.

Rukia winced and tried not to act concerned. "That's a lot of scars."

Kaien looked down on his arm unconcernedly. "Meh, they're not as ba—!?"

"MEEERRRRYYYYYYY CHRIIIIIISSSTTTTTTTMAAAAASSS!!!!!!!!!!!!" A loud, boisterous voice cut him off, and suddenly Isshin Kurosaki—complete with Santa outfit—had dropkicked his grandson and sent him rolling off, away from the door. He looked around and blinked confusedly. "Huh? My grandson couldn't have possibly been done in by that weak attack, could he?"

_BAM!_

Everyone around him backed away on impulse when the sandaled foot struck out and nailed the Kurosaki patriarch in the chin and sent him rolling off into the distance. Kaien stood there with his foot outstretched, bearing the same look of demonic irritation his father had always used when he was his age. "And a bah-humbug to you too!" he gritted out and turned back into the house, where the ones still standing there fought off their giggles and followed.

Once Isshin crawled his way back and they were all seated at the—now reorganized and enlarged—table, it became very apparent that though the table was giant and able to seat all the adults, collectively, there were around fifteen to twenty kids alone. Alone they were hard enough to deal with, but put that many children with superpowers together and something was bound to happen sooner or later. Most of them were still at the academy, but there were those like Karin and Yuzu's children, who had already been in Hueco Mundo; not to mention the fact that they were the epitome of a True-Blood. That was made even worse in Karin's kids' case because they not only had a Shinigami mother, but an Arrancar father. Thus, out of the mass of them it was only they who had named zanpakutous. Even though some were around the same age as Kaien, most of them looked up to the adult-looking teen like he was some kind of god.

And the other reason for their excitement was the huge collection of presents beneath the equally huge tree. Be they Soul Reaper, Hollow, or Human, everyone likes getting gifts.

Ichigo looked over the obvious problem and sighed. "Kaien, could you go get a couple of tables from the east wing? I'll go get one from the west." Kaien nodded and disappeared, much to the amazement of the children around him. Tatsuki got up to go set the table with the food, only for Ichigo to push her back down playfully. He turned to leave but before he vanished he looked back with a smile. "Tsuki, Masaki, make sure your mother doesn't move from that spot."

He laughed when Tsukiyomi and Masaki nodded and Tatsuki crossed her arms under her breasts and huffed indignantly.

Those around the table laughed at the antics of their hosts, but most everyone there were either medical specialists or extremely close friends, and they could tell certain things from behavior they've seen before. Rukia laughed as she slapped her hand to her forehead and those who hadn't figured it out looked over at her confusedly.

The short Soul Reaper looked over at Tatsuki with a devilish gleam to her eyes that belied the hidden nature of her inner closet pervert. "So, he's not allowing you to move is he?" she insinuated smoothly before going in for the kill. "For him to be like this…_dang_, how far along _are_ you?"

All the heads formerly turned to Rukia promptly shot over to Tatsuki.

She glared at the tiny woman before sighing in resignation. "About a month."

Many eyes around the table widened and Isshin started sobbing in joy before, "That's right!" a proud voice exclaimed. "Eight more months and we'll have another addition to our family!" They started in surprise to see Ichigo once again by his wife's side, looking very much like a child who got to open a Christmas present early. Some silently, others not so much, were amazed at his speed and they looked over to see a large table had already been placed and set for many of the kids. That was also when they noticed all the food they had brought and the stuff already prepared had been set out on the table before them. They hadn't even seen him _move. _Then Kaien arrived with one more table before vanishing to come back with another and the process was repeated until everyone was seated.

The captains present gulped. Extremely fast Flash Steps seemed to run in the family.

Kaien sat down at his place beside Kin, with Tsukiyomi and Masaki seated beside each other on his other side. He saw his father start to reach for the food and suddenly it hit him. "Oh crap!" he said unexpectedly, and Ichigo's hand stopped immediately on its path to the turkey.

"What's up?"

"We never went to go get Uncle Hanatarou or Miss Nemu!"

For a second Ichigo just stood there, like he was processing the information, before he mimicked what Rukia had done earlier and slapped his hand to his forehead. "Some hosts we are. Masaki, want to go get them? We can't have them holed up over Christmas."

Masaki smiled and nodded, but it seemed like someone else decided to voice her complaints, because soon after Masaki's head had twitched in an almost unnoticeable manner and her eyes had widened in understanding. "Speaking of forgetting about people…." She reached her hand up to her forehead and was prepared to bring it down when Ichigo stopped her.

"I don't think that's a very good idea anymore," he said softly, and Masaki looked up at him with her kind eyes warped with confusion.

"But you promised! This is the first Christmas we've had at home since I discovered her and you said she could be here!"

Ichigo bit the inside of his cheek. "That was before everyone else came over. They haven't seen her before and even if they _are_ here for Christmas, they're still from Soul Society." The loud sound of wood splintering got his attention and he looked over to see Tsukiyomi had clung her hands to the side of the table she was seated before, like she was fighting off the urge to hit something. Her eyes were hidden beneath her long white hair and that was never a good sign.

"So you're ashamed of us?" the white-haired teen accused lowly, making Ichigo's eyes widen. "If I wasn't in my body right now would you force me back in too just so they didn't see what I looked like?"

The hurt in his daughters' voices ate at his insides. "God damn it!!" even as he said it, he didn't know who it was directed at most. Likely himself. Before Tsukiyomi or Masaki could even look up at their father from where they were seated, his hands—_white_ hands—had slammed down on the table in front of them and he looked over at his friends and fellow captains in his complete White Transformation. Like this, his face looked menacing even at the best of times, but they were thankful he wasn't glaring at least. Ogihci's glares were like staring hell in the face.

"**Do any of you have a problem with me like this!?"** he asked irritably. This was the fastest solution he could think of. They were all looking at him strangely, but the children, especially the ones still in the academy, were looking at him in fearful awe.

As unlikely as it seems, Retsu Unohana was the first to respond. "No Ichigo. I say this as a captain of Soul Society: your Vizard status and any status of your children has been classified as a… peculiarity, limited to your division." After the others had all nodded in agreement Ichigo grinned happily; though in the form he was in it looked more like he was ready to kill something.

He changed back and looked down on Masaki. "It's fine. Go ahead, then go get Hanatarou and Nemu. I'm sure she's already seen everything through your eyes, but we'll let her get accommodated before we start."

Masaki leaped off her chair and hugged her father before she stood and initiated the process to let Ikasam out. The people around the table couldn't conceal their surprise at what happened and their eyes were as big as the plates before them, but none spoke a word. Soon Ikki was standing proudly beside Masaki and she stretched languidly.

"_**Finally! If you started eating that turkey without me I would have slapped you!"**_ It was a playful threat against Masaki, and the orange-haired girl smiled knowingly before hugging her other half and taking off for their two guests.

Before the inner Hollow could do anything else Ichigo had hugged the shorter body of his inverted daughter close to him. "I want you to know this right now: I'm not ashamed of you, and I never will be. I just can't stand the thought of anything happening to any of you."

Ikki smiled and all but melted into her father as she hugged him back. All of her father, both Ichigo and Ogihci, were concerned about their children's safety, and even if she was a cocky, overconfident, extremely powerful inner Hollow, she still liked the warmth of family and the protectiveness of their love. She may not have been the one that came out of her mother's womb, but she was considered as no less than a daughter in her parent's' eyes. _**"I know Daddy,"**_ she said happily. Removing herself from his grip she bounded around the many tables, trying to memorize all the faces she saw. She greeted them all enthusiastically while she examined the decorations of the house in childlike wonder.

She stopped like she had hit a wall when she ran past Jyushiro Ukitake, and both he and Retsu looked at her confusedly when she backed up and looked at him with a strange look on her face. _**"Now **_**you**_** are interesting!"**_ she commented idly as she looked the captain over like a doctor would a patient as she held a hand to her chin. _**"I've never seen twins before."**_ Ukitake was being as nice as possible, also trying not to express his curiosity as to how something like her could be out in the world. That was part of it, but he was also wondering how she knew about his twin zanpakutous, as well as wondering why she continued to look at him like he was some kind of off-planet anomaly.

All of a sudden her wide eyes widened even further. _**"What in the name of…?"**_ She trailed off in amazement as she looked at him closer and he shuffled back in his chair on instinct. _**"This has Dad written all—!?"**_ She was quickly stopped from going any further when Kaien appeared behind her and slapped his hand over her mouth. She struggled against him in futility while she made sure to voice her muffled protests.

"Don't say another word," Kaien whispered into her ear. "Dad healed him, that's all." It was said in the distinct tone that meant 'say anything else and die.'

She nodded meekly, just in time for Masaki to return with Nemu and Hanatarou. Retsu looked genuinely stunned a member of her division would be here without her knowledge. Being the gentle person she was, she knew there had to be an explanation for it, so she calmly stood and walked over to the person that now had a couple of centimeters on her, unlike before. "Hanatarou Yamada," was all she said at first, and even though it was just that, Hanatarou flinched. "Would you please explain your presence here?"

The healer didn't edge back in fear or even try to give any excuses. "I could not stay in Soul Society." The female healer's eyes narrowed only slightly and was about to respond when Ichigo cut her off.

"You're damn right you couldn't! Listen Retsu, he came here from Soul Society looking like he had just taken on the Espada barehanded! Even if he had went to your division headquarters he would have been followed and probably even killed! I've taken him on as a temporary transfer before I can get this all worked out."

The Fourth Division captain looked pained that one of her own officers wouldn't come to her first. "May I ask why?"

Ichigo simply looked at Hanatarou, and the man nodded his consent as he stood beside Nemu without a question being audibly asked. "He and Nemu are expecting their first child."

Since all the women present were also members of the Shinigami Women's Association, they all—excluding Tatsuki—jumped out of their chairs and ran over to the demure woman and her lover to congratulate them. Retsu Ukitake however was not one of them; she had simply stayed standing where she had been before, contemplating why the fact that her officer and Nemu having a child could have any merit in his former bloodied state, and the subsequent transfer to Ichigo's division. Her kind eyes widened in horror as the answer came to her. "Kurotsuchi…"

Even through the giggling and laughter of the women around Nemu, that one-worded whisper stopped them all dead.

"That's right," Ichigo confirmed. "The bastard wasn't very happy when they told him, and you can imagine the rest. If not for Hisagomaru I'm guessing Nemu would have been dangerously close to losing the baby. He came here so they would be protected when the freak recovers, and I'm planning on going to straighten things up on the twenty-sixth."

The normally kind and gentle captain was visibly containing her anger. "Allow me to help you; two captains give it higher priority. Disciplining an officer of their own division is one thing, but attacking a lower ranking officer of another division is unacceptable," she strained out, and the words were obviously meant to give lawful reason for the intervention, and not because of the blatant injustice done to two people for what should be a happy occasion.

The children had held their voices admirably, especially after the older ones had been so serious in their telling them to be quiet. For those at the academy, they knew this was a serious matter, and the other part of them was being quiet simply for the reason that they were surrounded by more power and authority than most Soul Reapers could ever claim. Though arguably, the captains involved were their parents in some cases. They were still captains.

"Nice to have some backup, but enough of this! It's Christmas Eve and we're talking about work! I hope none of this food has gone cold, so let's dig in before all this beautiful stuff goes to waste!"

"Wait a second!" Tsukiyomi interrupted suddenly. "Why risk it? Just let me." With that said, she raised her hand and her zanpakutou materialized in her outstretched palm. With one swipe of the fire-based zanpakutou, even in its sealed state, all of the food was steaming again.

Ichigo grinned. "Well if that wasn't one of the most reckless things I've ever seen a zanpakutou used for…good job Tsuki!" he applauded proudly and Tsukiyomi smiled before reseating herself and letting her zanpakutou vanish.

After everyone was seated and the food had been distributed, they all said the one last thing before the meal finally started.

"Itadakimasu!"

………

**Author's Notes:** I keep forgetting I'm posting this here, LOL. What The Eyes Can't See keeps getting hits, but not this one. I hope people start reading this in time for the later chapters, from what people told me when it was originally posted it's even better than its predecessor. I do hope this starts getting reviews again. Maybe I should post a pairing for it, because Ichigo and Tatsuki do appear and it does revolve around them too, just not to the extent of the last story. Meh, give me your opinions, eh?


	13. The Speed Phantom

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**The Speed Phantom**

…

_After everyone was seated and the food had been distributed, they all said the one last thing before the meal finally started._

"_Itadakimasu!"_

…

Surprisingly, there were still plenty of leftovers after everyone had eaten so much they could barely move. Watching Tatsuki and Nemu eat had been something else though, because they put away enough food to match Yasutora individually and they were two-thirds of his size, if that. It was to be expected, one doesn't exactly go through pregnancy on a diet.

With the food however, another problem had arisen. Now there were plenty of children fully charged and ready to go. Patience wasn't exactly their strong point, all except the ones that were in the higher years at the academy, because they were being instructed in military ways. The others had just been taught the basics by their parents, as their spiritual pressure was nothing to scoff at either. So there was a good deal of little bodies flying around the large mansion using the skill known as Shunpo, or Sonido, depending on the child. Chaos, to put it plainly.

Tatsuki leaned on her husband as she watched all the youngsters zoom around their house. "I think we could show our present to our family early, don't you?"

Ichigo smiled at what she was suggesting. "That sounds like a great idea."

Toshiro rolled his eyes as he straightened out the casual wear he had chosen for his gigai. "How exactly do you plan on getting them all to stop?"

The orange-haired captain grinned. "Weeelll…"

"No Bakudou," Tatsuki reprimanded instantaneously, without even needing him to say anything.

"But—"

"No."

"Just a little—"

"No."

"Are you su—?"

"Yes. No Bakudou."

Ichigo scowled exaggeratedly and glared mockingly, before he did the next best thing—and also the cruelest to any adult still recovering. He yelled, "PRESENTS!!!"

Every adult's eye widened in horror when that word was shouted for everyone to hear; though the only people who would respond to that cry were anyone but them. Suddenly the pounding sound of a stampede of feet was heard rolling towards the living room, and in less than a second every single child that had been in the house was seated around the Christmas tree.

"PRESENTS!!!!!" The whole group of children cried out at once.

Renji glared at Ichigo. "You're evil."

Ichigo merely grinned, but since he had been the one to call them he only found it fair to give them some reprieve before the actual thing began. "Well, I had only called you all here to see one present, but since you all came here so quickly I think it'd be okay to open one each before Tatsuki and I show our family our gift."

The eyes that had started to become downfallen at the beginning of his speech suddenly perked up excitedly, and the other parents could only agree else there be a whole new problem on their hands. That didn't make them like Ichigo any more for his little 'joke.'

One by one each person, not just the children, opened one gift and the living room quickly dissolved into conversation and any subsequent playing with any gifts that might have been given. Since there had been some _weaponry_—of all the things to give children—among the gifts given, Ichigo and Tatsuki were quickly given better reason to show their gift. They _did_ like their house after all, and repairing it was a pain.

"Okay, Kaien, Tsuki, Ikki, Masaki, follow us, but all you others can come too!"

Curiosity aroused, everyone followed the kimono'd twosome as they led the way to one of the unused rooms of the mansion, and when the door had been opened and nothing was revealed, there were more than a few skeptical glances. Imagine their surprise when Ichigo reached down and pulled on the floor to reveal a staircase down to some as-of-yet-unexplored region. The three—four with Ikki—Kurosaki children's eyes widened tremendously.

They knew this could only be one thing.

Kisuke Urahara tried to hide his grin with his fan as he always did, but with Yoruichi right beside him and Kin already after her boyfriend down the staircase, he wasn't able to completely hide that he had a part in the present. It _was_ his specialty after all.

Of course, everyone followed the ones that had already run down, and they too soon bore witness to the area nearly identical to the one under Urahara's shop, albeit with a few more…_healthy_ trees.

"Welcome to the new addition to our home, complete with hot springs," Tatsuki announced proudly. "Now until later in the night, I'm sure all of you can occupy yourselves playing here, am I wrong?"

The answer was a near-simultaneous sound of bodies dropping to the ground. All the kids stood there, most of them in their white-and-blue or white-and-red academy kimonos, and the ones that weren't old enough were in simple kimonos. None of the Kurosaki's had left their bodies yet, but that was because the super-intelligent teens were analyzing the area with interest.

Then Kaien felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Asuka, already in her spiritual form, looking at him with that infamous Grimmjow grin. "We haven't fought in a while now mister. Wanna go a round?" She noticed the way Kaien's eyes started glowing, even though he was still within his physical body. She gulped.

"Sounds good."

"Oh no you don't!!" an indignant voice suddenly called out, and they both looked over to see Kin standing off to his side, already out of her body. "I haven't gotten to fight you _once_ since you've been back! You're fighting with me!"

Kaien laughed, smacked his hand to his forehead, and the people around him watched as his body fell to the ground as his Espada-like form stood where his body once had. Since few of the adults—and all the kids—hadn't seen his jacket open as it was now, they were privy to the sight of the Hollow's hole smack dab between his pectorals. "How about this, I take you _both_ on," he suggested. If the two girls didn't know any better, they'd think he was _wanting_ to. Since they _did_ know better though, they knew that was exactly it.

"Don't think I'll be holding back," Kin warned, clearly thinking he was underestimating her.

Kaien simply smiled. "I wouldn't dream of asking you to."

Kin simply gave an unladylike snort and led the way to a large opening of the desert-like landscape, where she and Asuka quickly took positions on opposite sides of Kaien while remaining a good distance away. Both women drew their swords and Kaien made no response to the obvious advancement in the fight.

Instead, he cocked his head to the side and gave them each a look. "I thought you said you weren't going to hold back?"

Within the span of a hair's breadth Kin had Shunkou activated and had launched herself at her significant other faster than any normal eye could see. To her utmost shock, she hit her target dead in the stomach and thanks to the dense Kidou covering her blade her sword sunk right through his Hierro until its point was stabbed completely through his body.

"K-Kaien…?" she muttered in horrified disbelief, then before her very eyes the image vanished and her sword wasn't through anything, nor was there any blood on the blade. "W-What the…?"

"Yes Kin? Something wrong?" a deep voice asked amusedly and she jumped in surprise and turned around to see her boyfriend standing behind her with a grin on his face. Only there wasn't just one of him, there were _two_.

Kin rubbed her eyes and looked back at him, but still no change. There were definitely two Kaien Kurosaki's in front of her. "Kyouka Suigetsu?" she wondered aloud.

"No," Asuka's voice growled. "Shit, he's not planning on taking us lightly either. Even among his siblings, he's the only one who can use both Shunpo and the higher form of Sonido."

Understanding dawned in Kin's eyes and she gulped worriedly. "Gemelos Sonido…I thought it died with the Septima Espada…. Good Lord Kaien, how much can you do?"

It was more of a question to herself than anyone else.

………

The adults had been ready to leave, but seeing three of the oldest children ready to fight each other in a two-on-one battle was too good to refuse. They stood watching on one of the surrounding mountains; well away from striking range while not so much that their view was hindered.

Ulquiorra looked on wordlessly with his wife by his side. "Gemelos Sonido…he hasn't used that in a while," he noted monotonously.

The captains who hadn't fought him before—and even those that had—were astonished far more than the emotionless Espada. "Sonido?" Ukitake asked confusedly. "I'm sure I felt him use Shunpo before though. Now it's Sonido? How can he do both?"

Ichigo grinned smugly. "All of our children can use both Shunpo and Sonido, but only Kaien managed to get up to Gemelos Sonido. It's on a completely different plane, almost like Yoruichi's Ways of the Omnitsu. Tsuki's got a good grip on those, and Masaki's quickly catching up. If he's not careful he'll be the slowest one in the family soon."

Yoruichi laughed. "No wonder he was able to keep up with me so easily when I was playing around. He was combining the two without going further; otherwise he would have started creating the quasi-clones like he is now."

Tatsuki nodded. "Most likely, if he didn't want you to know any more about his power. That would be all he would use normally too. He's easily one of the fastest people in this room right now, minus only you and Ichigo." This was said while in the presence of other _captains._

The mocha-skinned woman smiled ruefully. "This is going to be an interesting match."

The other captains only stared down on the scene below.

………

Kaien smirked over at his two competitors. "If I hadn't avoided that one this battle would have been over already. That's some scary stuff there Kin," he complimented without actually looking worried, which in a way he was. He stopped moving at the great speed he was and regarded them both as he simply stood there. "Well? Are we getting this party started or what?"

Kin's gaze hardened and she held her blade in front of her rigidly. "Shunkou not enough for you? Fine! Arise: Benitenchi!

Asuka's head shot over to Kin as the release cry was shouted. She hadn't known Kin was able to use Shikai, and if she was, then why hadn't she used it against her? This changed the equation though, so she would need to reevaluate how she was going to fight with Kin against Kaien while remaining undamaged from her new partner.

Kaien hadn't seen the released form of his girlfriend's sword, but he knew what it was. After all, for him he wasn't simply limited to Shikai, and after absorbing all the memories of a zanpakutou, things like released forms are common knowledge.

The sword in Kin's hand glowed red and without even looking Kin simply let her hands out to the side and held them out in front of her. The blade shimmered in the air for a second longer before wind enveloped its form and the glowing red sword melted and elongated into a long white staff that fit perfectly into Kin's outstretched hands. At either end of the staff taller than Kin was herself was a beautiful ruby orb no thicker than the staff itself, holding the same chaotic blue light within them as that of the Shunkou on her back. It was a strange sight, to see blue within red, but the azure energy was like lightning clawing at the crimson sides of the orb, just begging to be released.

Kin smiled confidently when her released blade had set itself in her hands. With practiced movements she spun the white and red staff around her until it was set like a spear against her side as she eased down into a more comfortable fighting stance. Staffs are much different from regular swords, and just like Ikkaku Madarame, she held the end behind her at a higher angle than that of the end before her as she bent her one leg to ease the leg in front of her at a straight angle. With Shunkou activated, the stance was one of the most intimidating things he had ever seen on such a beautiful woman.

Kaien tried not to look as worried as he felt. "So Asuka, what's my limit this time? I'll give you a half-hour, then this bout is done. I have to recover in time for gifts after all."

Kin was clueless as to what he was implying, but this was a regular occurrence for he and Asuka while he had been living in Hueco Mundo, so the blue-haired teen behind her knew exactly what he was asking. She grinned. "Two against one? I don't think it matters."

The mocha-skinned teen gulped when Kaien's smile reached 'almost disturbing' length. "Doesn't matter? Well then, bring it on," he taunted arrogantly as he sunk down into his fighting stance.

Kin stole a quick glance back at Asuka. "Think you can keep up without getting hit?"

Asuka barred her teeth. "Let's do it. You take right side, I'll take left."

A quick nod, and they were off.

Kaien knew he was going to have to be on his guard the moment they split, because soon after an explosion had rocked the area Asuka had shot to and he knew she had just released her zanpakutou. He wasn't about to ignore Kin, because ignoring an opponent with both a released blade and Shunkou was inviting death. _An Espada-class hybrid and a Captain-class True-Blood…what the hell was I thinking!?_

He quickly turned to Kin's position and saw that she was in the air falling towards him with her staff held in front of her. "Hadou Four: White Lightning!"

Kaien's eyes widened when her Incantation Bypass was uttered and instead of shooting from her finger, the orbs on either side of Benitenchi glowed in response and the white energy was launched from _both_ of them. _Oh crap!!_

He quickly rolled out of the way of the double strike, and when he felt the reiatsu coming close to his seemingly unprotected back areas he just as quickly shot his foot out behind him, thus bending Asuka's form over his foot when she flew stomach-first into it. Her breath and a good deal of saliva were forced from her fanged mouth from the impact but he didn't give her time to recover. He grabbed the collar of her skin-like transformation and flung her over his shoulder, to where Kin was still falling down at him.

The two in the air had no recourse but the painful collision Kaien had just forced them into and their mutual yelps as they hit were quite amusing to hear. Thanks to incredible flexibility and cat-like balance, by the time they reached the ground they had both landed on their feet and with no recovery needed they simply flung themselves at him again.

Kaien leaned himself back to avoid the thrust at his head by the staff and was instantly glad he did so, because seconds later the red ruby had shot blue energy from the orb to form a blade at the end of the staff. It disappeared just as quickly but he knew he had to act, so he completed the backwards lean he had started and planted his hands on the ground, launching his legs up to grab the staff. Using the momentum to throw Kin over him with just his feet, he used the handspring to get him back on the appendages he had just used.

_Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap! _With the blade being made of energy—or Kidou to be more accurate—that nullified any weight or unbalance of a normal spear and that meant she could move it just like she always did without any difference being necessary to her fighting style. Once again, _Crap._

It was time for him to start fighting back, otherwise this bout would be over before his set limit. That wasn't something he was going to allow. There was coordination behind their improvised fighting that bordered on animalistic ferocity and he had been forced into a state of action-reaction, something not very much appreciated by the fighter who prided himself on knowing when and where each strike was going to come from. Something not really possible with the many punches and strikes coming his way, from two of the fastest people there were in his generation.

_Come on think! Think!_ He cursed himself again as he blocked another of Asuka's blows while jumping to the side to dodge the Kidou-infused rod that his girlfriend-turned-opponent had swung at his side. _What would be best in this situation!?_

Most males on the planet would die for two women who looked like Kin and Asuka to fight over them, but the downside was they were _actually_ fighting him, and not fighting _over_ him.

He knew he was going to regret this later when he was recovering but for now he needed the speed boost. Gemelos Sonido took too much conscious thought to be used, especially if he wanted to attack at the same time. Since it didn't take very much normally however, that only went to show how far Kaien was being pushed by the two fierce females.

Before he knew it Asuka was right in front of him again and he said the first thing that came to mind. "Hadou One: Thrust!" The normally weak Kidou packed the force of his reiatsu behind it and it shot her away from him like a bullet, into one of the opposing mountains. Thanks to that, Kin was distracted momentarily, and he used that opportunity to get steady grips on the swords he had just called out.

Kin turned around just in time to see her boyfriend holding what was undoubtedly Tensa Zangetsu before pushing the intense black blade together with a katana that looked to be serrated from the jagged condition of its blade, one that she couldn't recognize. The two melded together until only a jagged Tensa Zangetsu remained, but instead of preparing to counterattack, Kaien crouched down and held the blade towards him while his unused hand went like a claw onto the side of the blade.

She felt cold sweat drip down her neck. She had seen that stance before.

His eyes locked on to hers just in time for him to yell out, "Grind, Pantera!!"

It seems he had figured the best thing to do in this situation was fight fire with fire.

The shockwaves from the fused blade being released yet again sent her to the same place Asuka was just pulling herself out of. Both women groaned from the damage but they pulled themselves out regardless, only for them to see the smoke clear around a now transformed Kaien. Asuka's eyes widened and she quickly turned to Kin. "Which zanpakutous did he use?!?"

Kin had pulled herself up and made sure she had a firm grip on Benitenchi again. "He used Tensa Zangetsu, I know that much from my father, but I didn't know what the other blade was until he called out, 'Pantera'."

She watched as the blood drained from Asuka's face. "Looks like playtime's over. Don't let your guard down for even a second," Asuka whispered, and Kin wasn't exactly reassured from the gulp she gave at the end.

Kaien stood as the dust settled around him, identical to Grimmjow's released form in every way except for the color of the transformation, the place of his Hollow hole, and the lack of a bone-like crown on his forehead. His jet black hair had lengthened and straightened down his back in sharp waves and his eye tattoos had grown to accommodate the pointed ears. His menacing fangs were shown easily in his enjoyment and his yellow eyes burned with the intensity of the sun. Unlike Grimmjow, with Tensa Zangetsu joined to the blade the transformation was completely black with contrasting red lining to show the now noticeable 'strips' of skin-like cloth.

His eyes narrowed in on Asuka and they both took a stance similar to Grimmjow's, as he was in a sense a bipedal cat, so his legs weren't meant to be fully stretched, instead more held bent with his arms on either side like an animal. Kin tried not to notice the sweat beading down Asuka's face just from looking at him, because with Kaien's reiatsu control it was still impossible to sense anything from him, even in complete released form. She had a nagging feeling Asuka _had_ felt it before though, and from the way she looked like she was trying to look fierce just to hide the fear coursing through her was a pretty large indication of that.

Then they both _roared_.

The soundwaves of the two ricocheted against each other like physical attacks, that was how dense they were in their sheer volume. The physical _pressure_ the two made alone made Kin thankful she had Shunkou activated because unlike reiatsu, where it depended on spiritual strength to stay standing, this was just plain _force_ being put down on the air from sound itself.

The two charged at each other soon after and it became vastly apparent that Kaien had fought in this form before.

He was careful not to use his claws because while he wanted to have a fun all-out match with them, he wasn't about to seriously injure them. Add to that it was hard enough for him to simply fight normally because his sense of chivalry was pounding against his conscience, trying to make it remember he was fighting _women_. His rational side countered that by saying Asuka was half _Arrancar_, and most Arrancar women would think it an insult to be treated as weak as a human woman, though there was the side of them that loved being treated delicately. It was instinct, after all.

Back to the matter at hand…

He and Asuka collided head-on with the blade on their right arms pressed firmly against each other in what seemed like a stalemate scenario. Asuka snarled and suddenly her tail had shot out from behind her head and went straight at his. Her eyes widened when her tail went straight through what she thought to be Kaien and revealed it had been an afterimage caused by his speed. Seeing no time for her to look around to gain his location, she quickly jumped back while spinning to defend against any attacks with her tail.

To Kaien's eyes everything was practically in slow-motion. Pantera increased his speed exponentially and together with Tensa Zangetsu it wasn't hard for him to break the sound barrier by _walking_. He could see each rotation of his opponent like she was doing them at a deliberately slow pace, and her tail's rate of spinning around her was easily discerned.

"Watch out!" she heard Kin's voice cry. It was too late, because right after she was stopped abruptly when a hand grabbed her tail. She soon found herself spun around by the hand on her attached appendage, and then she was let go and flying towards the ground at a frightening speed. She braced herself for the impact but instead of hitting hard ground, she soon felt a warm set of arms under her armpits and a firm pair of breasts cushioned against her back.

Kin grit her teeth as she used her freakish strength—an attribute gained from her mother—to grab Asuka and with her grip established she was able to land them both safely, though she had to take them both into a roll just because the speed Asuka had been thrown at made it unsafe to do anything else without breaking her legs.

Asuka had momentarily forgotten she was fighting with a partner this time, and that made her more than thankful for the save from what would have assuredly been a painful landing. "This is pitiful!" Kin said in exasperation. "We need to start working together better or we might as well wave the white flag now!"

The blue-haired teen merely groaned again. "Easier said than done! He's used that form to tear apart Adjucha's with his bare hands! If he was channeling Ulquiorra you wouldn't even be able to stand right now!"

Kin's gaze hardened. "You're underestimating me."

She looked over quickly to see that Kaien was now circling them like a panther slowly advancing on its prey, only this panther was moving at speeds that made it look like there were twenty of him. Kin stood up straight and raised her staff above her head before she started spinning it like a propeller, unmindful to Asuka's confused look as to what she was planning.

Satisfied she had the timing of his movements down, Kin spun her staff faster before yelling out, "Bakudou Four: Crawling Rope!!" Just like before with White Lightning, the Kidou came from both ends of the released zanpakutou and the spinning movements swung it right into the many running forms of Kaien. Her plan worked, because soon one of the rope-like incantations had grabbed something solid out of all the 'Kaiens' around them. Knowing she had him, she stopped spinning her staff and tugged harshly, eagerly enjoying the surge of adrenaline she felt when he went flying over her head from the unexpected pull and right into the side of one of the mountains. She let her Kidou go and looked down at Asuka smugly, who was looking at the hole Kaien had made in his impact with an open mouth.

"Kidou's worthless against me when I'm with Benitenchi, and with Shunkou activated it boosts my zanpakutou's strength even more than normal. She absorbs Kidou and fires Kidou, so anything involving the Demon Arts is useless against me while it becomes my greatest strength. Since Kaien's been cut by it already, he probably knows that and that's why he hasn't used any. You don't underestimate Kin Urahara-Shihouin!" She said confidently as she planted her staff beside her and waited for Kaien to pick himself out of the hole she had made him make.

Besides being arrogantly confident herself, Asuka Jaegerjaques was wondering when in the hell all of her friends had gotten so damn _scary._

"Getsuga…!!"

_Oh shit!!!_ The Espada-class young woman thought instantly before tackling Kin out of the way and charging up a Cero.

"…Tenshou!!"

The black and red attack came flying from the hole just in time to be met by Asuka's Cero, and the two attacks pushed against each other for a few seconds before it became apparent that both attacks were around equal strength. They fought for a second longer before they both blew up and shot hurricane-force gales around them, throwing dust and dirt from the ground into the air like confetti.

Kin planted her staff in the ground again. "Hadou One: Thrust!" The force of the Kidou coming from both ends shot the dust away like nothing and thanks to that Asuka was able to intercept Kaien as he ran towards them in a charge. They met and their clawed hands locked together as Asuka fought against what she knew was a stronger male.

"You can't stop me like this, you know that Asuka," Kaien taunted her through his fanged teeth and she barred her equally deadly teeth right back at him.

"Maybe not, but I can keep you in one place for a few seconds at least, can't I?" she taunted back with a knowing grin and she loved the way Kaien's narrow, seductive eyes widened in realization.

"Let go now!" Kin yelled, and Asuka immediately did so. Since Kaien was still pushing against her, when she took off he was thrown off balance and in no position to move anywhere but forward, just like Kin wanted. All the sudden she was beside him and her staff was flying at him in a full baseball swing until it hit his gut and sent his breath and any saliva he might have had out his mouth as he was hit away like a kickball. Kin wasn't nearly done yet, and she shot after him with staff at the ready.

His sides were the first thing she went for, as they were the easiest accessible for many hits with a staff. They were inelegant strikes meant only for pain and not technique, and Kaien's ribs groaned in protest from the repeated strikes that effectively destroyed any chance for him to get back his lost breath. With the dense Kidou covering her weapon and her sheer strength in general, the hits felt almost as bad as going up against his father. He was sure he had one broken rib by now. If it had just been a blade then his Hierro would have blocked it, but it was a blunt force weapon that didn't need to cut to do damage, and he was feeling it. Hierro did well against that too, but she just happened to have the ideal weapon for it, that of a staff practically _soaked_ in Kidou. The Demon Art the staff radiated naturally from having Shunkou activated on its user pushed the full force of the attack through the reiatsu-hardened core of Hierro, and right to the vulnerable organs beneath. This form was ideal for fighting Asuka, but against a long-range weapon like Kin's, especially with the fact that it didn't rely on cutting, he should have tried to keep his distance. He was realizing that very painfully.

His vision was blurring now. He couldn't get enough air. He needed to stop this and _now!_

Moving out of an animalistic sense of self-preservation, Kaien managed to spin in mid-air and Kin had forgotten about his long tail, the thing that came flying at her when he did so. She managed to get her staff up but the force of the strike sent her flying away from him, exactly what he had been hoping for. He landed harshly on one of the mountaintops, and was reduced to all fours as he panted for breath and vomited up blood from the force of the blows that had been dealt to him. His broken rib throbbed with every large expansion of his battered lungs as they struggled to get in the air they needed, and he had the sense to wipe away the spittle and blood flowing down his chin. He had fought _with_ her before since he had come back, but not _against_ her, and it was far more than he expected. He could counter her of course, but not without seriously injuring her. He wasn't willing to take that chance, but the Hollow blood inside him was boiling, raging for him to put her in her place and exhibit dominance.

He could feel both Asuka and Kin's reiatsu, and he could tell they were confused because they didn't know where he was. That was a perk of being able to hide reiatsu. He knew in this condition his fighting ability was going to be severely tempered, and calling out another zanpakutou seemed useless now. Though his body was weakened, right then his blood was anything but. Even if he wanted to fight, right now his blood was fighting against him. It shouldn't have been acting up like this, but it was and right now it wanted Kin in the same position he was currently, though for what reason—punishment or procreation—was up for debate.

"Damn it!" he coughed again, and more blood came up with it. Then he heard it, and it chilled his blood.

"Bakudou Sixty-One: Six Stave Light Prison!"

It was definitely Kin's voice, and he had no recourse as the six bars of light trapped him in place just in time for her to fly up and once again her staff came up and smacked his unprotected middle, which sent him flying up to where Asuka floated waiting. This time he could actually _feel_ the crack as another rib gave way and he barely had time to spin and see Asuka pull back her fist as he flew towards her. It appeared like they had planned this out. He knew the black was overtaking more of his eyes, and he also knew if this fight continued at the pace they had it at he wasn't going to be able to stop from hurting one of them more severely than he might have already. Taking his blood into account, he knew if this didn't stop now they _all_ were in danger.

Her punch still caught him off-guard even though he was fully expecting it. She and him had fought many times before, and it obviously hadn't occurred to her that this time something was different, something even more prominent than the fact that one of the combatants didn't have Hierro and he couldn't afford to hurt her seriously. Her punch caught him right below his Hollow hole and thanks to the already terrible state his ribs were in he felt another snap before he was sent flying to the ground from the force of the blow.

He hit the ground with a huge explosion of dust as he made his own crater, and he knew he no longer had the strength to keep up his transformation. He tried to get back onto all fours so he could struggle himself upright, but his broken ribs made any vertical movement impossible. "Damn…I guess I deserve this for taking them so lightly…" His lungs caught up to him yet again and with one last vomit of blood the strips of his transformation snapped off until they were back into sword shape and he slumped back to the ground, unconscious. At least he hadn't lost his control, and that was all that mattered to him right then.

And hey, he had made it to his half-hour limit just like he wanted.

Asuka knew something was wrong the moment she saw his unfocused eyes looking at her as he flew upwards from the force of Kin's strike. The first thing she noticed was how he had made no attempt to get out of the way, the second was the blood coming from his mouth and pouring down his chin, and the third and final thing she noticed as she punched him was how close the black of his Hollowization had been to completing itself.

Then she had felt a rib under her fist snap and he went flying down to the ground.

Kin was in front of her almost right after and had her in a congratulatory hug with both her zanpakutou and Shunkou deactivated. "Did you see that!? It worked perfectly! We did it!!" Asuka didn't hug back however, she only stared down in terror as she watched her Prince retch up blood before his transformation ceased and he fell limply to the ground. Kin seemed to notice that Asuka wasn't responding and she turned to see what she found so interesting.

Her blood ran cold when she saw Kaien lying unmoving in his crater with blood still dribbling from his mouth.

"KAIEN!!"

………

Ichigo and Tatsuki knew something was wrong right away after they had watched Kaien spit up blood, and the fact that the was unable to keep up his transformation was surprising enough, never mind the fact that he had fallen unconscious right after. They had both noticed his eyes however, and they knew he probably _wanted_ the unconsciousness, no matter how it was delivered. They both knew he wasn't fighting to his full potential. Heck, his strength had annihilated all the Adjuchas that had attacked their home in a matter of minutes, so a simple bout like this should have been child's play.

However, they both knew his concerns. One: he didn't want to hurt the love of his life; and two: they both knew he was afraid for her because she didn't have Hierro. Had it just been him and Asuka, there was no doubt in their minds that there would have been a few mountains gone from the landscape.

In an instant they—and any Espada that happened to be there, so Ulquiorra and Halibel—were gone from their perches and over to the fallen prince's side. Ichigo quickly turned him over and did a scan of his son with his reiatsu. His eyes widened. "Holy shit," he muttered. He placed his hands over his son's chest and the people around him braced themselves for the explosion of reiatsu that they knew would happen as he started to heal his son. Blue and black reiatsu glowed over the visible wounds and over his skin to heal the internal injuries too.

Kin and Asuka were both back to normal now as they appeared by Tatsuki's side, worry etched all over their features. "What's wrong with him!?"

Ichigo craned his head over to look back at them as he continued the healing process. "He's got a number of shallow flesh wounds, three broken ribs, and one of his lungs was one punch away from collapsing."

Kin gasped and fell to her knees in shock. "I…I did that…?"

Asuka stood unmoving beside her. "He couldn't even fight back by those last two hits," she told them, the disgust at herself audible in her voice. "For whatever reason his blood decided to act up and if he had those kinds of injuries he wasn't going to risk fighting back against us when he knew he might lose control. I don't think he was planning to go unconscious the way he did, but it was a means to an end."

Tatsuki put her hand on Kin's shoulder. "Don't worry Kin, he's recovered from far worse. He just can't fight you all-out anymore. You don't have Hierro like Asuka does but besides that, in the back of his mind you're his girlfriend first and his sparring partner second. Even if he attacked you directly he would have made sure you had a way out."

Kin stifled a sob. "I…I've seen him fight before, I've seen him make light of tons of enemies! I didn't think I could hurt him this bad, I really didn't!"

"Heh, like Mom said, I've gone through worse," a weak voice interrupted. Kin's eyes shot over to Kaien's, who's bright yellow eyes were looking at her in amusement, if not a bit sleepily.

"Kaien!" She rushed over to his side, but didn't dare hug him or anything because of Ichigo still healing him.

"I'll be able to move in about forty-five minutes, so don't worry about me." Kin impulsively reached for the hand nearest her and held it to her cheek lovingly, like she needed to be sure he was still warm and alive. "Sheesh, beautiful_ and_ strong. You do this to me too much more and I'll lose my respect in Hueco Mundo," he joked.

"On the contrary," Halibel began, much to his surprise. "Self-sacrifice for the sake of a weaker mate is a direct connotation to defying the primal drives within, and that is far harder than merely taking control of the entire situation like most would want. Even if you weren't trying, that she managed to give you that much damage in a fight would increase _her_ respect too. We wouldn't expect you to know this, because you never showed any interest in claiming an Arrancar, so you wouldn't have learned the procedures and the like." Even after she was done, it didn't look like she was _completely_ done. That was confirmed when she turned her intense blue gaze to Kin.

"And you…you should count yourself lucky he didn't release his reiatsu. I doubt you would have even been able to move."

Kin's gaze hardened once more. "I'm being underestimated again."

"No," a small voice countered shyly, and Kin was shocked when it was _Asuka_ who had protested, even after fighting beside her. "All Espada-class Arrancars can instill a great amount of fear in their released forms. I'm no slouch of course and I can fight with the best of them, but the stronger the person the stronger the fear. Even in humans and Shinigami, everything is attuned to fear of those stronger. The same thing happens when the King and Queen undergo their Vizard or White Transformation, but Resurrecion is a far stronger release that takes Arrancars to their Hollow form, the form born from Fear itself. I was there…the first time he unleashed my dad's form onto himself…" The sweat was back on Asuka again, and she shivered involuntarily.

"I didn't know what to expect, but when I did it I felt this euphoric sense of becoming…whole. The power was intoxicating, and with my reiatsu adding Grimmjow's to it I wasn't prepared to stop the sudden rise. I still feel bad about that; I nearly crippled Apache," Kaien voiced, to add his take to the conversation.

Halibel made no outward sign that she felt bad about what had almost happened to her Fraccion. "She was unprepared for a kind person such as yourself to release that kind of reiatsu."

Ulquiorra nodded his agreement. "Primal fear is not to be underestimated, to use your words."

Kin gulped. If some of the remaining Espada themselves reinforced the argument there was no way she could refute them, especially when she hadn't felt his reiatsu in that form for herself.

"That's why I said you should have thought yourself lucky he wasn't channeling Ulquiorra, because whether my dad likes it or not he still is technically two ranks above him, and Halibel is even higher. Kaien's weakness with his zanpakutous is hard to remember when you think of the actual ability itself and not its weaknesses. It's…terrifying," Asuka finished.

"Geez," Kaien groaned from his place on the ground. "You're really making me out to be a bad guy over here. Did you forget that that 'terrifying' guy you're talking about is currently lying prone on the ground after getting his ass handed to him by two _girls?_"

His blue-eyed best friend snorted in a very unladylike way. "That doesn't count. Even though you released Pantera you still weren't totally taking us seriously. You could have incapacitated both of us in an instant with that speed, and if you wanted to you could have even released some of your reiatsu and had most everyone here seeing their own deaths."

The yellow-eyed male laughed reluctantly, which soon turned into a coughing fit, as Ichigo hadn't finished repairing his one lung yet. Ichigo looked down on his son worriedly. "Okay Squirt, that's enough. We'll wake you up in time for presents, okay? I'm going to help you get to sleep; even talking would be a bit much for a freshly healed lung."

Kaien sighed but did his best to nod. Ichigo smiled and put a hand to his son's forehead before a dim glow came from his hand and Kaien went limp. Kin carefully put his hand back to the ground by his side and she sighed. "So forty-five minutes is his recovery time this time?"

Tatsuki nodded. "Yeah. He'd be a bit sore because he used Bankai but with Ichigo healing him he should just be a bit groggy when he wakes up. Besides, it's easier for him to recover in his body so he doesn't have to do it later."

A small explosion from another area of the large expanse of the underground training area turned their attention elsewhere.

Sado let his head fall into his hand in exasperation as he felt the reiatsu in the air. It was one of his children. "Oscar, what have your mother and I been teaching you all this time?"

Halibel walked by her husband and put a small hand on his large shoulder as she smiled—something she would forever love to do because she could in her gigai and in her Arrancar form it was all but impossible. "I'll go talk to him this time. His legs are getting stronger, you have to admit."

He gave a reluctant chuckle. "I do. He just needs to control himself more around people weaker than him." It seemed the bronze giant was getting better at stringing more than three words together.

Rukia chuckled and elbowed the man nearly twice her height in the ribs playfully. "So your youngest has his legs as his power and not his arms, huh?"

Sado sighed. "Halle's exactly the same, but she inherited a lot of our calmness. Oscar is a lot like me when I was younger right now, and his legs aren't even taking into account his zanpakutou."

Rukia paled.

"It'll be okay!" Orihime piped up cheerily. "Sora's over there too, so he'll be able to heal anyone if they're hurt!" Her airhead personality never ceased to take the tension out of any situation.

Uryuu readjusted his glasses like he always did. "He's the only one out of all our children to have your powers as a base for his Quincy ones. Everyone else is the other way around."

"And he's got my orange hair!" Orihime boasted proudly.

There was an atmosphere of 'please don't let her get started about her kids' so Ichigo quickly scrambled for a way to change the topic. "Chad! Would you mind carrying Kaien upstairs to the living room? Now that this is done we can talk up there for a while before we let those kids dig into their gifts," he explained optimistically, trying to hide the sweat that was breaking out on his brow at the thought of having to listen to Orihime go into one of her imaginative rambles again.

Still, it had been too long since everyone was together like this.

………

**Author's Notes:** As was noticed, apparently some people don't know what True Bloods are. Refer to chapter 187 of the manga for the reference. Basically it's a Soul Reaper that had a Soul Reaper parent. It's one of Tite Kubo's very sad attempts at explaining Ichigo's power. Suffice it to say, a Soul Reaper is exponentially stronger if they have a Soul Reaper parent.

I'll keep posting this, likely faster now that I know people will still review within two days of it being posted. Just a quick warning, if you didn't understand anything this chapter, it will be explained sometime in the future, I'm sure of that. There is only one thing I ask. If you start to dislike the story as it progresses, I'd rather not have flames. Thank you, that's all I wanted to say. I've been fortunate enough to not have any on the other site this was posted, so if you don't like it, please just don't read it. Again, thank you. The only reason I'm saying this is because I know people often have a hard time with OC's. I tried very hard to make sure they had very real personalities and weaknesses, so…yeah.

Anyways, thanks for all the reviews!! I can't wait 'till I can start posting Soi-Fong's story, it comes after this one. The latest chapter I'm working on is making giddy, LOL!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	14. The Heart That Never Died

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Friendly warning, this chapter contains lemon.**

**.**

**The Heart That Never Died**

.

Everyone was tearing into their presents with childlike zeal and Kaien—fully recovered and back in his body—was smiling while Kin leaned into him as they sat on the couch, and all the younger kids opened their gifts. It would have been nice to have a family Christmas, but then again this _was_ his family, and he had to admit he much preferred this to anything else.

This was how Christmas was supposed to be, and it could only get better.

Masaki and Ikki were squealing in glee for some reason or another and cameras were flashing all around, but the only thought on his mind was how perfect this Christmas had been so far, getting beaten or not. Unexpectedly he felt a long box be put on him, and he snapped out of his trance to see his father and mother had just put it on his lap.

"This' mine?"

They both nodded. "We weren't sure if we should or not, but after all the late night trips you made we were sure giving her back to Soul Society would be a pointless gesture. She chose you again, Kaien," Ichigo said reverently.

Kin wasn't sure she liked what had just been said. 'Late night trips' and 'she chose you' weren't really going together very well in her mind, but when she looked over and saw how wide her boyfriend's eyes were, she really didn't know what to think.

Kaien tore the wrapping paper off the box like he couldn't believe what he had just heard and he had to make sure. The lid to the box was quickly thrown aside and when he looked in he stopped in shock. It was exactly what he had thought. He reached in carefully and pulled out a sheathed katana, one with a magnificent sapphire hilt. He held it over his knees as he stared down at it like he couldn't understand what was happening. The zanpakutou hummed in approval the moment it was in his hands, and everyone in the room looked over at him curiously, trying to discern what the strange sound was.

The oldest Kurosaki child pulled the sword from its sheath and put it back over his knees, running a hand down the blade like a lover that had been away from his love for years. "You really missed me, didn't you?" he asked softly, even though he already knew the answer.

Kin was beyond confused, but she held her tongue just out of reverence for what was happening right beside her. She didn't know why, but she got the feeling that it was…sacred.

For some unknown reason Kaien chuckled as he continued to look down on the sword held softly in his hand. "Yeah yeah, I know you don't like the thought of me fighting with you but not actually fighting _with_ you. Hey, I've kept my promise. Today would've been ideal for you but I didn't use you, does that make you feel better?"

There was a conversation going on between the two, but only one person could hear the other end of the conversation. At least, that's what Kin thought, but when she looked over at Masaki, Ikki, and Tsukiyomi, they were watching their brother with restricted tears in their eyes. Rukia too was near tears, but not because she could hear what was being said, but because she knew who that sword was.

"You know if you do this you'll suffer the same pain I do right?" he asked seriously, and this time it was _his_ eyes that started watering in the minutes that came afterwards. The rest of the group had gone deathly silent, and the joy and laughter of unwrapping presents had been postponed momentarily in the wake of this gift.

"Yeah, two _is_ better than one against my blood, but—!?" He winced and his reply was cut off from what she could only gather to be a rather harsh rebuttal from the sword in his hands. "Hey! I know I get my stubbornness from him, no need to bring _that_ up!" He sighed and once more slid his hand down the side of the blade lovingly. "Are you _sure_ you're sure?"

This time no snarky comment was made or joking modesty used to try and allay the inevitable. She watched as the tears that had been gathering in his eyes fell down his face, and his smoothed back hair fell out of place to hang around his head as what she could only guess was a reply was given. "Thank you. At least now we'll be together again."

Kin and Kisuke's eyebrows rose up questioningly. What did he mean by _again?_

Kaien sheathed the zanpakutou and tenderly held the hilt up so he could rest his head against it while he closed his eyes. "I'll talk to you soon."

Everyone in the room watched as the blade in his grasp shimmered and started fading in and out of view. Kaien grimaced but he kept his eyes shut and soon his hands weren't holding anything anymore. The zanpakutou had disappeared.

Yoruichi moved from her lover and edged towards Kaien carefully. "Are…you alright Kaien?" she asked slowly, not even quite sure herself what she had just seen.

The young man let loose a long breath before leaning up and grinning stupidly. "I'm fine Lady Shihouin, why do you ask?"

Yoruichi's breath left her like she had just been punched in the stomach. No one had called her by her title since she had left her position as the Commander of the Special Ops, and her birthright was known by only a few present in the room. Certainly this _boy_ didn't know of her princess status, in order for that to be possible he would have to be hundreds of years old!

Kaien cocked his head to the side and he scratched the back of his head. "Captain Urahara? What's with the getup?"

The normally calm and stoic shop owner couldn't have possibly had larger eyes at that moment.

The movements, the speech, everything in her were telling her one thing, and Rukia Kuchiki wasn't willing to admit it. "K-Kaien…dono?" Renji's eyes shot over to his wife in shock before just as quickly they flew to Kaien. This wasn't possible, there was just no way.

Kaien looked over at her before giving that same stupid grin. "You're here too Kuchiki? That's…" Even as Rukia started sobbing, it wasn't that that made Kaien stop in mid-sentence. He merely doubled over with his hands gripping the sides of his head like claws for no discernable reason at all, and that made everyone jump in surprise.

Kin instantly had her hands on her boyfriend's shoulders as she tried to get him to look at her. "Kaien?! Kaien, what's wrong!?" The man in her grip shuddered and shook and she could _hear_ his teeth grinding together as his face contorted in pain.

Then, like nothing had happened, he straightened up and flopped back against the couch. After a minute of pure silence, one of Kaien's eyes crept open. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to confuse you Auntie Rukia, or you La…" he caught himself, "Yoruichi. Being back with her made my old memories a bit too vivid."

Jyushiro Ukitake swallowed thickly and stepped forward. "What do you mean?" He knew what he likely meant, but he wasn't willing to let his impossible dreams guide his rational thought.

Kaien looked at the white-haired man with respect, and what was definitely sorrow. "I've…known for a while. She was the first zanpakutou that ever cut me, but the memories that came with that didn't just come from her. I felt a strange…familiarity, like I knew everything that was being poured into my mind without even needing that cut. I shrugged it off at first, but no matter what each time a zanpakutou cut me I never got that feeling again. When I used what I had copied the movements came naturally, like I had done them a million times before. I could feel something, I _knew_ something, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Then…I started talking with her."

Rukia couldn't suppress the broken sob, and Kaien winced. "Usually when souls are recycled into the world through the process that creates Nobodies, their memories are wiped. Maybe it's because his spirit body hadn't really died like it should have, maybe it's because of Glotoneria's ability, or maybe…" he looked over at Rukia sadly, "maybe it's because my heart never actually died, but whatever happened I don't know. All I know is at one point in time I was Kaien Shiba, but I know for a fact that I'm not any longer. I'm Kaien Kurosaki, I was born to Tatsuki Kurosaki and Ichigo Kurosaki and I have three sisters: Tsukiyomi, Masaki, and Ikasam Kurosaki. My grandfather is Isshin Kurosaki and I have a new sibling coming in eight months.

"In a past life though, I was Kaien Shiba: husband to Third Seat officer Miyako Shiba, Lieutenant of Division Thirteen under Captain Jyushiro Ukitake, and brother to Kuukaku and Ganju of one of the four noble houses: Shiba. My wife was possessed and killed by a Hollow and I went to get vengeance only to find myself under its control. I was killed…_twice_…" he chuckled again, "by Rukia Kuchiki, who both times I knew held my best interests at heart.

"Now I find myself with all of my memories of both my lives as Kaien Kurosaki, the person who is three spiritual forms fused into one, and who can copy any zanpakutou, which ironically is strangely alike to Gloteneria. I'm not even going to try to think that that has any bearing in my powers, but I can't rule it out. Last but definitely not least, I'm finally back with Nejibana. Oh and in case anyone didn't know I'm also madly in love with Kin Urahara-Shihouin." He smiled over at her and she blushed hotly.

Many of the children let out long 'ewwww's but that only caused Kaien's grin to widen.

He rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. "I'm sorry for all the theatrics, but I didn't expect this gift in a million years. I probably should've expected the slight retrogression after being back with her."

"And you say that so calmly!" Kin said in exasperation.

Kaien's eyes turned to the floor. "Would you rather have me go into depression that I'm merely the copy of a dead Soul Reaper, or would you like me to keep on taking this calmly so I can keep convincing myself I'm Kaien Kurosaki?" his voice was _dripping_ with sarcasm.

Within the span of a second she had pulled his face up and her lips were on his just as greedily as ever. Any doubts, and conscious thought for that matter, went floating out of his mind and he was simply able to revel in Nejibana's presence within him, like a soothing spring of water cooling the heated blood within him. He had never felt so in-control before, and kissing Kin like this was great for his mood in general. It didn't even occur to him that he had just done the impossible, that of having a zanpakutou while being a zanpakutou spirit himself. Then again, both Masaki and Tsukiyomi had zanpakutous that were different from themselves and for the most part they were the same as him.

A light cough caught his attention and he remembered they were currently surrounded by all of his family and most of their friends. They both pulled away from each other grudgingly, and Kaien wasn't able to fight off the blush on his cheeks from the way all the adults were looking at him and Kin. The kids…well, they were just turned away and making faces at each other, but he didn't really care what they thought until they were older.

"I'm sorry again everyone. I guess I made a scene…"

Ichigo grinned widely. "Yup, that's pretty much right. Are you okay or can we get on with the night?"

Kaien blushed again. "Go ahead. I'm just…going to go get some air. The memories have never been this vivid before. I just need some…time…to readjust."

He stood somberly and took his leave of the room, easily exiting out into the battle-scarred backyard. The most important gift of the night had yet to be given, but he hadn't anticipated having to deal with this when he was making his plans. He loved Kin, he knew that, and he wanted to be with her forever, he also knew that. Now he had memories of another life, another love, right under the surface of who he was and he needed to discern them so he could get on with _his_ life, not Kaien Shiba's.

Kaien Shiba was dead, Kaien Kurosaki was alive.

He rubbed his pocket just to make sure he still had it with him, and sighed at the reassuring weight he found there. There was still something he had to do tonight, something that would change his life more than even Nejibana. He looked down on his left arm and was taken aback when he saw the Shiba clan's tattoo on his arm instead of the Renji-like ones he knew he had. He blinked and shook his head vigorously, greatly relieved when he opened his eyes to see his arm back to normal.

_His memories are becoming a real pain,_ he groused irritably.

A soft, watery chuckle emanated from the core of his soul unexpectedly and he basked in the cool calmness it radiated. _"It'll be hard at first, but I know you'll do fine. You may have his memories, but you're a completely different person. Some similar traits, I'll admit,"_ the voice conceded jokingly, _"but you're still your own person. I'll always be here if you need me."_

He looked ahead and suddenly there was a woman in front of him. She had a slight frame but it was held high and proud, and her soft features belied the strength she held. Her long blue hair floated in the air behind her like water and a sapphire rose rested elegantly in her hair, just like the flower after which she was named. Her gentle crystal-blue eyes looked at him like she knew everything there was to know about him, and he found his doubts faltering under her gaze. A white dress flowed loosely down her womanly curves and ended in near-transparent blue cloth that trailed behind her in a wavy train. She was beautiful, but there was no doubt to the pride and power she held in her small body. It was like a physical existence in the air around her.

"Nejibana…"

"_Shh,"_ her gentle, smooth voice answered. It was like the sound of water in a river, or the sound of a waterfall in the distance; her voice was captivating, calming, and almost overpowering in its very presence. She walked towards him like a graceful sprite, as smooth as the flowing liquid she controlled. Her hand ghosted down his cheek and he collapsed to his knees. He knew he was Kaien Kurosaki, but it didn't feel like she was touching him, but instead the ghost she saw behind his eyes.

"I can't be him."

She smiled down on him. _"I would never expect you to. I'm _your_ partner now, and joined with your body, mind, and soul. My power is yours to use, and my forms are yours. You've achieved a great deal, and my Bankai is yours to command. I'll be here to help you, Kaien Kurosaki. I will fight down your blood with you and I will guide you if you need it. Do not be afraid of the road ahead, but go forward with the resolve I know is within you."_

He smiled up at her and she knelt down to wrap her lithe arms around his neck in a soft embrace. She looked behind his back and gently smiled at what she saw. _"I'm not the only person helping you. Now go, and forge your future."_

Before he even had time to nod her materialized form had vanished, back to the confines of his amalgamated soul. Kaien chuckled, but it wasn't bitter nor was it harsh. It was a light laugh from one that had been comforted by the truth that had been so easy to find but so hard to see. "No wonder Tsuki and Masaki could get through so much by themselves. They were never really alone." He put his hand to his heart, and the strength of the ocean that resided within him now rose up to touch his hand like a physical person would. He smiled. "So much power, but like the ocean you can be calm as glass, can't you?"

It was a rhetorical question. He already knew the answer.

He stood up with his renewed resolve backing him, and for some reason the same air he had just been breathing felt crisper, more alive. He had never felt so good in his life, and he knew what he needed to do. It was relieving, relieving and exhilarating. He had a zanpakutou. _I have a zanpakutou!!!_

He wanted to jump for joy and scream out his happiness for the world to hear. At long last, he would be able to fight on equal ground with any other unreleased Soul Cutter without having to worry about getting cut. Well, he still would, but fighting unarmed against a sword was a frightening ordeal, Hierro or not. Now though, he could simply pull out _his_ sword to defend himself, without having to worry about being bedridden afterwards. The fact remained that he would still have to be cautious because he was still vulnerable to the first cut, but that was a minor detail to him at the moment. He knew his power was still there, he could still feel the memories and abilities of the other zanpakutous he had been cut with confined within his reiatsu. Nejibana had just helped take a little of the edge off. He let loose a heavy breath and smiled; today was a great day.

He had been right, Christmas could only get better.

Turning around, he froze.

Kin had been standing right behind him.

She grinned cattily at him and crossed her arms under her ample bosom. "She's beautiful. Was that Nejibana?" He nodded and tried to make his gulp unnoticeable. "She's sure different from Benitenchi, that's for sure." Again, he nodded. They were almost polar opposites personality-wise. "Are you going to come in so you can open my gift to you?"

Gathering his strength and willing his knees to stop shaking, Kaien straightened himself up proudly. "Actually, I think I'd like to give you mine first."

Kin gulped for reasons she would never know. He reached out his hand to her and though she raised her eyebrow at him, she put her hand in his and let him guide her to the fountain in the middle of his family's backyard. "You know usually we'd go back inside to open presents, right?" she asked jokingly.

Kaien's gaze never faltered from her amazing golden eyes and again, she gulped. "No, right here is perfect."

Then, to her utter and absolute shock, Kaien lowered himself to one knee in front of her.

Reaching into his hakama pocket, he pulled out the small velvet box as he continued to look up at her. "I thought for a long time about what I could give you, but nothing seemed good enough. Finally, I figured out what I really wanted and what the best thing I could possibly give you was. Will you, Kin Urahara-Shihouin…become my wife? Will you marry me?" He opened the small box to reveal a small silver band with an impossibly yellow diamond set in the middle, something she wasn't even sure was possible.

Now Kin had expected a lot of things; she had thought she had went over every possible scenario that he might have planned, but this, _this_ she hadn't even conceived. Her heart hammered against her ribcage so hard she thought her ribs were going to break, and she had to swallow thickly just to get rid of all the extra saliva that had formed in her mouth. She knew the answer, it had screamed itself out from the deepest depths of her entire being when the question had been asked. Truthfully, even though she hadn't thought of it before, she knew this was the question she had wanted him to ask since she was eight years old.

She didn't stutter, she didn't whisper, she didn't do any of what one would normally expect from a tearful proposal, like this one was. No, Kin Urahara-Shihouin screamed her answer at the top of her lungs through the happy tears falling from her eyes. "YES!!!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES _YES!!!!!!!!_" She jumped into him in her joy and hugged him close to her, completely disregarding the fact that she had just sprawled them both out on the ground.

Kaien managed to untangle his arms from under her and they instantly wrapped around her waist to hug her back as he desperately sought out her face. It was as if they both realized what the other wanted at the same time, because before either of them could comprehend what it was they were doing they were kissing feverishly. The box was still held solidly in his one hand even while both of them were wrapped around her, and when her mouth opened to gasp in some air he took the invitation and snaked his tongue between her teeth. The woman in his grip moaned lustfully when her tongue was attacked by his and she eagerly fought back. The young man on the other hand was now seriously considering ripping off her clothes and taking her right there on the ground, but the fact that he had waited for over a month to try and make it special warded off that thought. He had waited this long already, a little longer wouldn't kill him.

At least, he hoped.

They kissed for what seemed like ages, and it finally occurred to Kaien that he yet to put his ring on her finger. Removing his hands from their vice-like grip around her, he brought them up to her face to cup her cheeks. She nuzzled the hands set affectionately on her face and removed her lips from his, however grudgingly. He set his face into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply, nearly forgetting himself in the scent of her. His mission remembered, he leaned up and Kin scooted back, not entirely pleased that he wanted to get up. She sat on the ground, both aroused and satiated at the same time, and saw him return to his one-kneed position.

He held out his hand again and this time Kin knew what his purpose was. She tried to keep her hand steady as she put it into his grip, but her excitement in general was causing so much adrenaline to flow through her system she could barely stop her entire _body_ from shaking, let alone her hand. He smiled as her hand was set in his and she found it extremely erotic to see his swollen lips stretch to accommodate his incredible smile. She knew her lips were probably in the same state but she couldn't care less.

Pride and adoration radiating from his eyes the entire way, he slipped the silver back onto her finger. They were officially engaged.

"Well, I think this has to be the best Christmas present I've ever gotten," Kin said cheekily, and Kaien smirked confidently.

"That's good, but I'm afraid you can't take this one back for a refund."

She laughed. "I think Asuka would kill me if I tried! But I don't think that'll be happening any time either side of eternity!"

Kaien felt his arousal stir within him and he fought it off vigorously. Hakama weren't really the most concealing things in the world and going back into the house at full arousal would be mortifying. He stood up and brushed off all the dust and whatever else that might have gotten on his kimono from her tackling him. She had certainly made her answer clear.

He looked over at Kin and almost took a step back from the way she was looking at him. He had never known what a feast felt like when it was being stared at. Until now, that is. He resisted the urge to pull at the collar of his already loose kimono.

"Can we go back in now? I _really_ want to show off my present!" She was practically bouncing up and down, and Kaien then had another thing he needed to resist, and that was the urge to follow what was also bouncing with his eyes.

Hey, he _was_ a healthy red-blooded male.

Beating down his carnal desires and keeping the part of the respectful fiancé, he held out his arm and she smiled before winding her arm into it and walking inside with him.

She couldn't wait for him to open _her_ gift.

They walked into the living room and a few people raised their heads to look at the incoming reiatsu, but most didn't pay any attention and kept on going with their conversations. A few of the kids were already gone, likely to play with their new presents, so that made more room available.

Asuka looked over at Kin to see Kaien with her. "Kaien! How are you feeling?" It had been torture to watch one of her best friends doubt himself over memories she never knew existed. He hadn't even confided in _her_ about those, and watching the scene unfold as he regained his real zanpakutou had made her chest constrict in pain. Now he seemed fine though, better than fine even.

Kaien looked over at her and gave her one of the widest grins she had ever seen on him. "I'm great!!"

Asuka's eyebrow perked up questioningly. There were emotional rebounds, and then there was _this_. "Are you sure?"

"Asuka, I can honestly say I've never felt better in my life!"

Kin was nearly jumping again, and she couldn't wait to get in on the little game Kaien was playing with Asuka. "I know! He gave me my Christmas present and he cheered right up! Weird, huh?" she played along, weaving the story of deception until she could finally reveal their big surprise.

Souken was just as confused as his wife this time. "He gave you his present? But you've only gotten back now; how could he give you his present?"

Kin gave one of her mother's Cheshire cat grins. "But he did! He even made a big show out of giving it to me! Wanna see it?"

By now everyone still in the room was paying attention to the energetic conversation, and hooked as to what the young woman may be alluding to. Asuka and Souken both looked at each other for a second before turning back. "Well yeah, that'd be the next step," Asuka replied like Kin had momentarily become one of the dumbest people on the planet.

Kin held out her left hand and moved her fingers energetically to show off the new piece of precious metal and stone that now resided on her ring finger.

"He proposed!"

Asuka nearly fell flat on her face, Souken's glasses fell out of place, Rukia spit out the tea she had been drinking, Isshin started bawling, and Ichigo and Tatsuki smiled at each other knowingly. It would seem his previous visit to the Urahara Shop had gone well. Yoruichi and Kisuke merely cuddled together closer, they already knew this was gong to happen. Kaien _had_ asked for their consent after all. After five years, things were finally being made right.

Souken rearranged his out-of-place glasses. "C-Congratulations, Kurosaki."

Asuka still looked a bit stunned, but then her lips widened into a smug, devious smirk. _That's special all right_, she thought maniacally. "Yeah, congratulations," she said instead.

"Thank you," the two replied in unison, then after realizing what they had just done they turned away to hide the blushes on their faces.

After being congratulated by everyone in the room, Kin was able to get her present at last. Needless to say Kaien was surprised when instead of a box, she instead handed him an envelope. "Don't worry, this is just the card," she assured him. She already knew what his first assumption would be.

Kaien carefully tore open the envelope and looked inside to see the standard Christmas greeting card, as generic as white paper. Confused, he looked inside and saw just a single message:

'Go to the training ground under the Urahara Shop at midnight tonight.'

Wondering how on earth another sparring match could be his present, and disappointed at the turn his plans had taken, Kaien still managed to look happy. It may not have been a physical gift, but it was time with Kin and right now being with his fiancé was perfectly acceptable to him. "Thank you, Kin. I'll do that." He leaned down and gave her a light peck on the cheek as a more personal representation of thanks. Besides, he knew Kin Urahara-Shihouin never let people down.

Kin smiled, and Kaien completely missed the sly edge to it.

As did everyone else for that matter.

"Well, it's almost time for the kids to go to bed!" Ichigo announced, then his face broke out into a wide grin. "So, who wants to play some games?"

The Kurosaki Christmas had reached stage three, but all Kaien could think of was his present.

………

After everything, everyone had simply taken up unused rooms of the division headquarters that doubled as a home and went to bed, as Christmas day was yet to come. Kin had left earlier, saying she had to go do something, and Kaien simply couldn't go to sleep for the reason that he still had someplace to go this night.

Where he now found himself.

Kaien jumped down the long ladder that went down to the floor of the Urahara Shop training grounds at midnight, like he had been told. He was completely unaware that closing the door, like he had done, completed a sealing Kidou that made detecting any reiatsu that may be inside its confines impossible, just as it did escape or entry unless allowed by the maker of said Kidou. In other words, anything that happened inside the training ground would be completely undetectable to the outside world, and nothing short of blasting a hole in the roof would make entry possible.

The oldest Kurosaki child might have noticed this, had a major change to the scenery around him not have immediately caught his attention. Instead of the bright blue sky he was so used to, there was a night sky in the air above him, complete with sparkling stars and a crescent moon to give ethereal illumination to the seemingly plain landscape. Such a minor change, but the effects were breathtaking.

His shockingly yellow eyes weren't hindered by the darkness however, exactly the opposite. He felt at home in the darkness, and even in absolute dark his eyes could make out everything in perfect clarity. The soft light of the stars and moon made seeing everything even easier, and he walked forward with some hesitancy. He had no idea what to expect anymore.

Something tickled his senses and he took an experimental sniff of the air to try and discern what the smell that was sending his skin into tingles was. _Scented candles?_ There was something else there too, like an array of the most tantalizing scents had been used in one area. _Roses?_ He couldn't stop his feet from moving anymore, his body wanted to find out where those incredible scents were coming from.

He turned a corner to a V created by two of the mountains joining together and his breath left him in an awestruck gasp.

There were candles everywhere. On the sides of the mountains, on every crack or foothold there were candles, flickering softly in a non-existent wind, bathing the already incredible moonlit scenery in gentle orange light. The smell of flowers was soon explained, because on the soft ground were red rose petals, so many that they almost blotted out the brown dirt beneath them. His nose was working overtime, and loving everything in its ability to sense. He kept moving forward, moving closer to the end of the enclosure until his nose picked up another scent.

_Sweat?_ The odor was unlike anything he had ever smelled before, and he could smell slight uncertainty in it yet there was also…anticipation? He stopped and took another deep inhalation. _Yes, definitely anticipation._ The adrenaline was coursing through his body now, trying to make everything he had at its highest possible awareness. Another breath in and another scent reached him, one he knew very well. Arousal. The feminine scent burned through each individual vein and sinew of his body and sent his adrenaline and testosterone levels skyrocketing.

This was something he knew, it had been the thing that had made his time of waiting almost unbearable. It was _Kin's_ arousal. Breathing normally had long been a thing of the Past, and now he was struggling to keep his breaths regular and not the erratic gasps they wanted to come in. His now glowing eyes darted around the landscape wildly, trying to find the source. He kept his footsteps as steady as he could as he continued to walk forward to the apex of the mountain's enclosure.

He stopped when he finally reached the end at he saw an extremely padded, huge cushion that was large enough to fit four people comfortably nestled carefully where the two mountains joined, it too was surrounded by the romantic light of candles large enough to last the entire night. His hypersensitive eyes zeroed in on the round cushion-like mattress, hoping beyond hope that the source would at last be revealed to him. The scent was strong in the air, so he was shocked to see that the cushion was empty.

Whatever Kin's goal was she was definitely reaching it. She had obviously done her homework too, because he had never had his senses so overloaded before. He didn't know how she was doing it, but his skin was practically tearing over his muscles, like it was tightening and tingling in response to an outside stimulus. He wouldn't doubt it was because of one of the aromas in the air, but he had no proof to back that hypothesis. He took a shuddering breath in to try and calm himself but it was not to be.

"Glad you came," a soft voice greeted shyly from behind him, and Kaien nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun around so fast rose petals shuffled from the wind of his movement.

His mouth went dry.

Kin was standing in front of him, a rosy blush on her cheeks while she looked at him with her arms wrapped carefully under her breasts as she visibly fought off her insecurity. Her hair was down from its regular ponytail and fell over her shoulders and back in golden waves, accentuating the chocolate skin it surrounded. That was the first thing he noticed, but what had taken all the moisture from his mouth and threatened all the blood in his head to flow downwards was the state of her dress. More accurately: the state of her _un_dress. All she was wearing were two strategically placed red ribbons with bows at their center to cover her bosom and the proof of her womanhood. The rest of her creamy mocha skin was uncovered and glowed in the candlelight, setting dancing firelight designs over each ridge of muscle and curve of dark feminine flesh. Cliché or not, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Kaien swallowed heavily, unable to even speak at the sight before him while trying to wet his suddenly parched throat. Even though he could see her insecurity about such a blatant course of action, he could still _smell_ her arousal. She _wanted_ him; her anticipation had given way to arousal over the time she had waited for him and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the beauty before him, corniness be damned.

She smiled coyly as she watched the many stages of both shock and desire that Kaien went through. It was only slight, but she knew his body language well enough. This was a better reaction than anything she could have hoped for, and that caused any uncertainty to fly out of her psyche. "Do you like your present?" Even _she_ was surprised by how sensual her voice sounded. She brushed some of her long hair out of her face deliberately and could see Kaien's eyes follow her hand, the hand that still had something on it.

She was absolutely naked save for two bows and one engagement ring.

She saw Kaien snap out of whatever trance he might have been in, and seemed to need to _force_ his legs to carry him the rest of the way to her so he could join one of his hands to hers and stroke her long hair. He still towered over her, but the way he looked at her made her feel like she was ten feet tall.

He smiled at her tenderly. "You didn't have to do this you know," he whispered, willing his voice not to crack like he knew it wanted to.

She moved her ringed hand over to grasp the one on her hair. "I didn't have to, but I wanted to." She thought about her next words for just a second, before grinning adoringly. "I thought for a long time about what I could give you, but nothing seemed good enough. Finally, I figured out what I really wanted and what the best thing I could possibly give you was." His gaze on her seemed to deepen as she used his own words against him, and she moved the hand in her hair to her lips so she could give it a chaste kiss. "So here I am, your fiancé. I want to give _myself_ to you. My mind…" her hand guided his down her cheek, "…my body…" she moved it down her neck and over her collarbone, "…my soul…" she continued the trail down until it was resting solidly over her left breast and so close to the bow that minimally covered her chest, "…my heart. Do you accept me?"

Kaien could feel the heart underneath his hand thundering against her chest, belying the calm state of her voice. His senses were filled with her; the truth of her words, the sincerity of their feelings, the state of their bodies. Like he had readapted his proposal to match humanity's traditions, she too had adapted hers to the customs of Hueco Mundo, inescapably appealing to every aspect of him: the weak human, the wise spirit, and the wicked Hollow.

He wanted her. He wanted her so badly he could _taste_ it. He hadn't dared venture under the confines of her clothes for fear of what he would do if he did, but now his hand was held on her breast of her own volition and the flesh was softer than his wildest fantasies. He wanted her exposed entirely to him, the selfish part of his Hollow nature wanted _all_ of her for himself for all of eternity. He wanted _her_. He could feel his blood redirecting itself yet he couldn't care about the growing tightness of his pants or move his eyes from hers. She had asked a question, and she deserved an answer.

"Of course," he replied, unable to form more than a whisper. "I love you, and the only reason I've been waiting for such a perfect moment was because I knew…I knew the moment we went any further I would want to hold onto you and never let you go. You've always liked to run and explore, and I knew that I might be too suffocating for your nature. God I love you, I love you so much it hurts and—!?"

Kin cut him off by putting a slender finger over his lips while she smiled understandingly, her soft gold eyes looking for the entire world like she knew the truest extent of the turmoil that he was trying to convey. "Would you be running with me?"

He grasped the hand on his lips and held it by his face. "I'd follow you to the ends of the earth if you allowed it."

She smiled again. "Then you aren't really suffocating me at all, are you?"

Understanding and relief flooded into his eyes and he moved his hands to hold her against him, his own arousal completely forgotten for the moment. "I do love you."

She gave his torso a comforting squeeze in her hug. "I love you too."

He slowly pushed himself away from her and Kin felt her skin tighten just from the heat of his gaze as he visibly looked her over once again. He reached forward to the bow of her chest but at the last second he hesitated, and she could see his hands tremble slightly. Ignoring the butterflies in her own stomach, Kin grabbed his hand and together they pulled the bow keeping the large ribbon in place until it was undone and the fabric was floating to the ground. She had never felt more exposed to anyone in her life but when she noticed the way his eyes drank in her bare torso hungrily yet lovingly at the same time, her pride soared and once more she felt her insecurities fall to the wind.

"Aren't you going to unwrap the rest of your present?" she asked with a surprising amount of mirth for the anxiety that had been formerly coursing through her.

Kaien licked his lips to wet the dry skin and resolved to keep his hands steady as they made their way to the only thing left on her body, and soon that too had fallen away. Not that he had ever had any doubts about this particular idea, but if anyone had ever thought she wasn't a natural blond that was immediately rejected. The finely trimmed pubic hair leading to her womanhood proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. He froze, momentarily stunned by the nude beauty before him. Her dark nipples were erect and at attention away from her large firm breasts, and the creamy chocolate skin that defined her looked gorgeous in the combined light of the candles and the fake moon. From her small feminine hands to her dainty toes, Kaien simply could not find anything amiss on the perfect body standing proudly in front of him, her desire radiated from her so strongly he could almost see it.

He had thought she looked beautiful clothed, but he soon realized he found her even more irresistible naked. She was confident and strong, yet seemed to yearn for his touch and wasn't unprepared to take what she wanted. She was everything he had ever wanted and that was probably because the only thing he _had_ ever wanted was her.

Without even waiting for any more action, Kin reached forward and pushed off the haori of his kimono to expose her soon-to-be lover's naked chest to her. Kaien quickly caught on and helped her get the garment off and she simply tossed it to the side and caressed his jaw-line as she walked past him and over to the bed, hinting for more than his head to follow her.

He would be lying if he so much as thought that he wasn't more nervous in this moment than he had ever been in his entire life. He knew she wanted him, and he wanted her, but he could only hope and pray he was able to meet her expectations. God help him if she hadn't met all of his so far, so he only hoped she liked what she saw. His arousal had come back with a vengeance when he watched her walk, nude, to the large bed she had prepared and could see the firm flesh of her backside move with each sway of her hips. She was like a walking wet dream and one little part of Kaien's mind wondered what on earth he had done to deserve the incredible creature before him.

She didn't even speak, she just looked down at his pants before back at his face with a sly grin and the point was clear enough. Instinct fighting off insecurity, Kaien removed his socks and sandals before taking off his hakama and underwear in one fell swoop. Standing completely naked before her, fully hard, he was almost hesitant to look back into her eyes. His Hollow blood was burning, fighting off his human fears and leaving only desire in its wake, so very quickly the young man found looking at her irresistible. His ego took a trip to the stratosphere under her stare.

Kin had never seen anything like him, though she didn't really make a habit out of looking at naked men. His healthy peach-colored skin, so unlike hers, shimmered in the light of the fake stars she had created and cast every defined bump of muscle he had into long shadows that flickered in the orange candlelight. Something she found confusing was his complete lack of body hair, but she wasn't complaining as she drank in the sight of his bare muscles. Her eyes lingered longer than she had though on his manhood, and she was almost embarrassed by the amount of saliva that had formed in her mouth. He was proportional to his height, if not larger, and she wanted him so badly she could feel her sex throb between her legs.

She looked up at his face and her skin exploded into shivers from the smoldering lust that now blazed in his sensually narrow eyes. He had seemed so nervous before, but just like her, she suspected it had something to do with her reaction. She didn't notice the darkness lining his eyelids because of his eyes' tattoos. She was sitting on the edge of the bed and desperately hoping he would move, because the itch between her legs was getting unbearable and this time she didn't want to be the one to get rid of it like she had had to all those years he had been away. Her cheeks darkened when she saw him take another long inhalation in through his nose and his eyes pinned her in place. She tried to keep her muscles from trembling as he walked towards her, but she was so excited and eager she almost forgot that she was sitting, and that meant she was at his waist level. _He_ did though, and that was why he stopped before he came too close. He didn't want her feeling uncomfortable in the slightest. Still, he was closer, and her eyes wandered back down him and remained there, and he could have almost sworn she licked her lips until her eyes went back to his face.

He bent down and Kin's neck lost all muscle control when he set a ghostly kiss to her nape while one of his large hands stroked down her side. She had wanted him to touch her for so long even him simply touching her side had her whimper in approval. Her head fell to the side to grant him better access and he took it only long enough to set another kiss at her jaw. "Lie down."

His voice washed right through her like pure molten energy. His deep voice was calm, but low and gravelly, and it set her insides on fire. It seemed to occur to her how uncomfortable this position must be for him since he was taller than her and she was even sitting down, so his command was instantly complied to and she shuffled herself back, until she was lying comfortably in the middle of the large bed she had prepared. She watched with anticipation coiling within her as he crawled over until her was above her, his hands braced on either side of her chest. He leaned down and she shivered as she watched his muscles ripple from the movement until he was kissing her neck again, trailing ever-so-slowly up to her ear.

She moaned and whimpered at the same time, both loving the attention he was giving her and hating the lack of attention he was giving everywhere else. She wanted him to _touch_ her. Her body wanted to _feel_ him. When his mouth made its way to the shell of her ear, he gently bit on the tip, sending her entire body into shivers from the unusual pleasure that shot straight to her sex. _How in the hell did he know I would love that!?_ She didn't know, but she certainly wasn't asking him to stop. Then she felt his hot breath on her ear and tried to stay calm as she lay beneath him, his entire rippling body held over hers cautiously.

"Can I touch you?" His voice was soft, loving, and she knew enough about him to kick herself for not realizing he would ask for permission first.

"Please yes…" Her words had come out as a breathy plea, much to her dismay, but then he was touching her, both his mouth trailing down her neck and his fingers gently running over the muscles of her abdomen. His fingers flowed over her skin like it was brail, like he was committing every bump and curve he felt to memory, and her eyes closed in bliss as she allowed her body to succumb more and more to the man above her. She gave a very un-Kin-like whine and arched her back up into him, trying to get him to pay more attention to her more sensitive places, and her breath left her in a sharp gasp and her eyes flew open when his mouth first covered one of her dark nipples.

"Oh god…please…more…!!" she gasped as he gave another suckle and her legs twitched in need just from the shock of pleasure that went shooting through her. Kaien heeded her pleas and kissed his way through the valley of her breasts until he was nibbling at the other one, and his hand trailed its way up to its neglected twin, worrying the dark flesh until it was swollen and tender.

She needed something to occupy her hands and the first place they ended up was his hair, where she found herself nearly pulling on his head to get him closer. She had always known her rather large assets were very sensitive, but none of the times she had caressed herself even came _close_ to what was going through her body from his mouth's talented work. Another gasp was forced out of her when he went back to the one he had been massaging with his hand and immediately bit down lightly on the swollen, erect nub. It wasn't enough to cause any pain, just enough for her to feel the pressure being put on it by his front teeth. She was writhing now, needing something, _anything,_ to alleviate the savage burning _need_ between her legs.

When she felt one of his large hands graze over the finely trimmed triangle of platinum-blonde curls that pointed down to her soaked folds, her harsh gasps became heavy moans that echoed erotically in the enclosed space. Inhibitions gone, she ground her hips up into his hand to try and get him closer to her wetness. He stroked his hand down further until he had rubbed over her entire slit, and her hips instantly fell to the mattress as her legs gave way under the torrent of sparks that flew through her nerves at the contact.

His erection was throbbing almost painfully from the heavenly noises that were coming from his fiancé's mouth, and her reactions to every one of his attentions made him extremely gratified in himself. All the reading had paid off. He had never stopped his ministrations on her breasts and now his manipulations on her sex were growing bolder as well. He had never felt any flesh as heated as that which was her feminine folds and his pride—and his Hollow instincts—took extreme satisfaction in how wet she was. She continued to moan under him and grind her hips up into his hand, so he carefully inserted a finger into her core and nearly lost it himself when a pleased, content hum that reverberated through his entire body was issued from her vocal chords.

He quickly decided he would do anything in the world to hear that sound again.

He couldn't believe how tight her muscles were as they squeezed his finger in wanton abandon, and though her natural functions had made more than enough lubricant for him to slide in easily he was still worried because he knew his arousal was a lot bigger than any of his fingers. One finger became two and her moans reached new levels as he explored within her with his two digits. Her nails raked down his chest and left thin red lines on the peachy flesh and Kaien hissed at the unexpected move, but it wasn't because of the pain. Maybe it was his Hollow blood, but having her take action like that was _erotic_ to him. His body was aching for attention, and even her nails were welcomed, but the noises she made more than made up for her lack of reciprocation.

The walls around his fingers clamped down suddenly and went into shivers and spasms that made Kaien wish it wasn't his fingers in her, as her warmth poured out onto his hand and her climax overtook her violently. Her body had gone rigid even though her inner muscles were anything but, and she fell back to the bed like she was made of jelly as her orgasm subsided. She panted unashamedly and looked at her fiancé through half-lidded eyes clouded by bliss. Her eyes widened when she saw him retract the hand that had been pleasuring her and moved it to his mouth, where he experimentally put them in and tasted her essence. He wasn't even touching her, but he had just started her back on the road to climax.

Curiosity more than sensuality was guiding his actions, and since her smell was so intoxicating to him he just had to try her taste as well. After his fingers were in his mouth he quickly licked them clean. Every carnal instinct within him had risen up with the onset of her taste and he knew intuitively it was a taste he could get addicted to. The other part of him was flying high because it knew that it had been _him_ that had made that release possible.

Kin felt her skin heat up as she watched him suckle his fingers, wet with her juices. Then his eyes locked on to hers and she watched the light that made his eyes their so-shockingly yellow darken, and his sensual orbs were looking at her like she was something that he wanted to devour whole. The thing that made her tremble was the way that his eyes conveyed even if he _did_ devour her, she would love each and every second of it.

His heated breath was back on her ear now, and Kin didn't know how much more she could take. She even found his _breathing_ on her flesh pleasurable. Something was either seriously wrong with her, or she had just been waiting for so long that everything that was her body was relinquishing itself to anything he offered her. She had hoped he would be good, but nothing could have prepared her for this, not even any of her fantasies over his five year disappearance. She would be lying if she said she hadn't taken part in extensive _searches_ of herself and her pleasure centers in desire of their union, but even her self-imposed gratification paled to what he was giving her.

"Can I taste you?" he asked huskily, and she shivered again.

With a blush that threatened to light up the cavern they were in, she wordlessly opened her legs, not even trusting her voice to respond to such a question. She had read about this, but from the stories at school she got the impression not many men took the time to appreciate their women in this manner. Her entire body convulsed when she felt his hot breath on her exposed womanhood and she stifled a moan. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but then his tongue moved forward and gave a lingering lick to her slit from bottom to top.

The pleasure ripped through her body like a zanpakutou's blade and she cried out at the unexpected but not unwelcome jolt. Nothing else came and she looked over her heaving breasts to see Kaien had removed his head from between her legs and was looking up at her concernedly.

"Did I do something wrong?"

She nearly laughed aloud. She knew she shouldn't be surprised, after all they were both still virgins, a fact that she seemed to have forgotten after his incredible mastery of her body with his mouth and fingers. She smiled, nearly drunk from the pleasure going through her body, and she swore she could still feel his tongue on her even though she knew that wasn't the case.

"Oh no…oh _god_ no. That felt…_so_ good. Please…please…" What she wanted to ask him wouldn't come out of her mouth, only her blush ended the sentence and a pleading roll of her hips towards him.

Kaien looked down at the movement before he gave a grin that looked too sexy for the situation he had put her in. Her blush increased under his grin but she wasn't about to stop. She wanted him to finish what he had started!

He moved his arms under her legs until he was able to plant his hands on her stomach for support, thus putting both of her legs on either side of his head while he held her firmly in place. Kin might have protested the way he was handling her, had he not delved back down to assault her sex with vigor, hungrily sucking and licking the hypersensitive flesh with a lover's touch. Despite the fact that he had her gripped firmly in place, Kin still wound her hands into his hair out of fear he would leave and if possible, to get him even closer. She wanted to clamp her legs around his head, but her muscles wouldn't respond, and she could feel them trembling on either side of his head from the homage he was paying to her womanhood.

She was losing her mind, she was sure of it. Nothing was supposed to feel this good and her brain was shutting down and leaving rational thought abandoned to oblivion. Then it _did_ get better, and her mind shut down completely. His tongue pushed through her folds to taste the source directly and any thoughts of this being embarrassing were thrown out the window. All she could do was moan and scream, breathing his name past her lips in entreaty for him to continue and he did, pushing her closer and closer to the point of no return.

He knew there was one place very important to a woman's arousal, and he knew he had found it when his tongue hit a hood of flesh and her entire body tensed instantly around him. He grinned for all of a second before he assaulted whatever was under that hood, and it grew under his ministrations until he could see the nub clearly under the protective hood of flesh over it. He flickered his tongue over that spot like a candle's flame and Kin's back arched so far off the bed he almost thought she was levitating. Her scream was like music to him and his reward soon met his lips as her climax caught her off-guard. He eagerly drank up her essence and licked her thighs clean after he had done that, simply enjoying the sound of her heavy breathing as she rode out the waves of her orgasm.

His own arousal had grown almost painful and his own need of relief was rampantly destroying his selfless nature. He knew she was more than ready for him now, so he crawled back up her body until he could look down on her flushed face as she panted for breath and glowed in post-orgasmic satisfaction.

Her eyes caught his almost instantly and even in her near mindless state of bliss, she could see the restraint breaking in his eyes. It suddenly occurred to her that she had done nothing to alleviate any need _he_ might have been feeling over the entire time she was basking in his attentions on her. She felt the tip of his heated erection at her entrance and even though she had just been thinking of attending to him, her brain instantly overrode that with a pleasure signal from her nether-regions and quickly told her it wanted _more_. She wanted him, inside her, right then.

"Kin…"

She didn't let him ask any more questions. She wound her legs around his hips and pulled him to her, impaling herself in one quick thrust on his large girth. Her eyes closed tightly and she choked down the cry of pain that she wanted to utter at the pain of her maidenhead being willingly destroyed, but it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. In the wake of her previous two orgasms, her body was so numb to anything but pleasure she almost didn't feel it at all.

Kaien was fighting everything that was _him_ to keep himself still to give her time to adjust to his size. Nothing in the world could have made him expect this. His few attempts at pleasuring himself came nowhere close, and the fantasies that had plagued his sleep for the past five years could not compare in the slightest. She was so tight, trembling around the most sensitive part of his anatomy in random sequences that made not moving practically unbearable. His mind was already getting hazy from the pleasure she was putting him through, but he still had the sense of mind to feel concern for the love of his life. He wiped away the beads of tears that had gathered at her eyelids and kissed her softly, greatly relieved when she reciprocated. He could practically feel the pain and tension melt out of her body, because soon she was grinding her hips against his wantonly, and the shocks it sent through his body nearly caused him to collapse on top of her.

After being ignored for the entire time thus far, Kaien had been pushed far past his limit, though admittedly he had no regrets about sending his fiancé over the edge, even if it was without him. Now though, he just couldn't take it slow. He pulled back his hips until he was almost out of her before crashing back into her with nearly no force withheld. Her screams of bliss started almost immediately after, and they bolstered his confidence as he continued to lose himself to his fiancé. He could feel her, feel her so intimately from where they were joined it was like he wasn't his own person anymore.

He reveled in the noises she made as her voice cracked and broke the longer and harder he thrust into her, joining their bodies in a desperate attempt to gain the release they both desired. Her hands were everywhere on his body as he pumped into her, groping him, caressing him, loving him. She pulled herself up by winding her fingers together behind his neck and started planting loving kisses on his neck and jaw-line, just like he had been doing to her originally. His muscles twitched and convulsed under her care while the moans and grunts she was making went unstopped, even though she was trying to use her mouth for other things.

Her body was undergoing sensory overload, and the feel of him so deep inside her, moving in and out so forcefully, had her breath escaping her faster and faster as time went on. He was rubbing places so deep within her she hadn't even known they existed before then, and the previously unused nerves were sending so many signals to her brain she could hardly keep up. She wanted to show the man pounding into her she loved him, she wanted to show him how grateful she was for his restraint and the way he tortured her body so beautifully. She wanted to, and she was sure her body was doing things to him now, she could feel the pressure on her lips, but she honestly couldn't really remember what it was her body was doing other than the fullness between her legs.

She couldn't feel anything other than the being they created as they made their bodies one, couldn't feel anything but the euphoria roiling through her body like a maelstrom and the way he stretched her so perfectly. She felt so full, so complete, and as her orgasm overtook her she did exactly like she had told him she would. She surrendered her heart to his care, her body to his love, her soul to his embrace, and her mind to his. Alone they were above average, but together…together they made something beyond beautiful.

As Kaien felt her walls tighten and spasm around him he knew he wouldn't last. As her orgasm crashed through her body he too relinquished himself to the bliss that she was putting him through and exploded inside her. She was his. _His._ One thing he also knew though, the thing he had known since five years prior, was that he was hers. Unconditionally, undoubtedly, and for all eternity. He had given her his heart, and as he gave her the rest of himself he too felt the warmth of everything that was his fiancé pour into him. Her body, her mind, her soul, her _heart_.

They were one.

Kin felt the warmth of his emission soak her insides and she moaned contently. They had finally done it, and she couldn't be happier. It was like they had exchanged their very selves to the other and felt no regret whatsoever. It was a breathtaking experience. Her body held on to the rapture they had created and she realized her thirst was not quenched. She had many years of fantasies to make up for.

She moaned loudly when she felt him pull out of her and he fell to his side beside her, not tired, but content for the moment in the post-coital glow of their love. She leaned her head over to look at him and blushed at the angry red marks lining his chest. She knew she had done those. He didn't seem to mind them at all. She couldn't resist her hand's desire, and she soon found it wandering the large expanse of his chest.

"So smooth…" she whispered in wonder, and Kaien gave a light chuckle as his mind struggled to keep the amazing haze of bliss.

"Having the energies of Cero around you from the neck down isn't very friendly to body hair," he explained mirthfully as he drank in her nude form, sweaty and flushed from their exertions. Her long blonde hair was fanned around her and it looked simply amazing with the moisture of sweat making it gleam in the light of the candles and stars. She was, put simply, perfect in his eyes.

She gave a wordless 'Ohhh' as the understanding came to her, and Kaien was unable to resist the urge to press her perfectly open mouth into a passionate kiss that had their tongues meeting just as lovingly as their hips had been moments before. He knew he would never get enough of her, _could_ never get enough of her. His erection came back full force and she removed her lips from his when she felt the pressure on her thigh.

She looked down at his renewed arousal before looking up at him with a sly grin on her features. "Not done yet?"

Kaien felt the urge to roll his eyes, but wasn't about to do that in this situation. "I'll never be done with you, especially not tonight."

Without answering Kin pushed on the shoulder not on the bed and this sent him falling to his back, where before he could even voice his confusion she was up and straddling him.

"Time for me to return the favor," she whispered seductively.

The night was far from over, and Kin planned to make the most of it.

They _did_ need to get up for Christmas day at his house though, but she doubted she would be cranky even if they stayed up the entire night.

_Hey…._ She thought ruefully. That solved the problem of getting up in the morning.

They just wouldn't go to sleep.

………

**Author's Notes:** Another chapter done and loaded! Thanks for those who keep reviewing, and I hope this story continues to meet your expectations.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	15. All I Want For Christmas

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

...

**All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth…Yeah Right**

…

_Hey…._ She thought ruefully. That solved the problem of getting up in the morning.

They just wouldn't go to sleep.

…

Even though the sky of the training area was still the inkiness of night, Kaien Kurosaki knew that it had to be close to morning by now. Children and Christmas morning were a combination sure to make for unearthly awakening times, so he also knew if they wanted to slip back unnoticed they had better do it soon.

Now, if only he could get his legs to move.

The entire area smelled delicious to him. It reeked of the fruits of his exertion mixed with the tantalizing scent of his lover's own pheromone-soaked sweat. The scented candles were slowly dying out one by one but their scent still lingered in the air, fusing with the drying rose petals and the wonderful aroma of their passionate lovemaking. Just the scent ignited his memories of the night slowly leaving them behind and his arousal spiked again. Stamina was one thing he had. That, and a zanpakutou self-regeneration ability that had proven invaluable for that particular act. He was pleasantly sore all over from the constant use of his muscles, and he could only hope Kin was basking in the same euphoria as he was over their brief rest, as she stayed cuddled into his side for the time being. He didn't really _need_ the rest, but enjoying the aftershocks of their love wasn't possible if they started up again right after. Not that he would have been complaining.

Many times over the course of the night he had thought he was hurting her but she just screamed her bliss louder and egged him on harder. He gave as hard as he was able and even harder and she took everything he could give her like a dehydrated sponge that needed moisture. Her passion was incredible and Kaien was never in control for too long before she tried to wrestle it back. She never really succeeded, but for some reason he knew she loved the way he picked up his pace whenever she tried, reducing her to a flailing mass of flesh that was mewling her pleasure louder than before and not caring in the least. She was so amazing, and anything but passive. How she knew some of the things she knew he would never know, but what he did know was that he didn't really care as long as he kept on being the recipient.

His back had a few more red marks to match the ones on his chest, but he loved everything she did to him, especially in the throes of orgasm.

In one of their brief rests she had told him about her plan, and he had agreed wholeheartedly. An entire night of making love to the woman of his dreams so they didn't risk sleeping through Christmas morning, now that was a plan he could follow without reservations. He had been so aroused by the concept alone that their rest period ended quite quickly after that.

God he loved her. His Hollow blood was simmering in his body placidly, protective and possessive while at the same time calm and content. It was so incredible to feel his blood as it was right then, and he had never felt less afraid of his own blood at any time than he did at that moment. Somehow his love for her and his own primal blood had both been tended to in unison. The beautiful cocoa-colored perfection in his arms had made _that_ possible.

He knew soon he was going to need to go get the energy pills in his hakama, but he didn't really want to, nor was he even sure he _could_ at this point. Even with his stamina he was getting kind of tired, and his muscles were buzzing so pleasantly he wasn't even sure they would work anymore. Something told him it was time to leave that he couldn't shake, so grudgingly, he prepared to get up.

……

Kin Urahara-Shihouin was purring like a kitten that had just had its fill of warm milk and had nestled down for a catnap. She didn't want to move from this spot, and the thought crossed her mind she might not be able to. She had never known anything could feel quite like this and now that she had experienced it, she was pretty sure she was going to want it again. Soon.

She was sure she could feel her hips bruising from where Kaien had gripped them harder than he would normally so he could give it to her harder as she commanded, and for some reason the only response to the thought of having hand-prints bruised onto her hips was more arousal. Her womanhood was tingling both from the harsh abuse it had taken and the length of their activities, but it could hardly be called abuse. She had loved each and every second of it, and there would be no regrets even if she was a little sore later, which she was sure she was going to be. She had given Kaien more than a few mementos of their experience together and a few bruises brought on by that of all things could definitely be tolerated. Her breasts still felt swollen and tender, probably because their nipples had been kept erect all night, and tortured in so many different ways she wasn't sure if they were ever going to go back down.

Just the thought sent renewed moisture to her pleasantly sore folds.

Half the time she thought Kaien wouldn't be able to give it to her any harder, but she always tested the limit and to her surprise every single time he did as she asked, more like moaned. She loved the way he stretched her, almost to the point of pain. He fit within her so snugly it was like she had been made for him and every stroke lit her entire body in fire. She simply couldn't get enough, and his force was increasingly arousing even though he always made sure he wasn't hurting her. _That_ was pretty simple, because she cried out her gratitude for the entire world to hear whenever he picked up the pace.

God she loved him. She felt so full even now, with the reward of his love within her. She had prepared for this of course, and had been on birth control ever since she first found out about the effects of her menstrual cycle on him. Just in case she had wanted to try her plan before now, but she hadn't. She felt empty without him in her, but that could quickly be changed, and they had the rest of their lives to be together. He had evoked things in her she simply couldn't explain, and the thought of his hard body above her again made her shiver in glee.

He was a powerful, beautiful creature, and he was all hers.

She was sure sometime in the near future they would need to get up. She had made the stars to rotate as time went on and from the looks of things they were going to need to get going soon, even if she didn't want them to. She could easily see them staying in bed for the next whole day, but time didn't allow it.

"That was incredible," she purred out as she stretched from her place cuddled against him.

Kaien made a small, rumbling noise deep in his chest in agreement and rubbed a hand down her exposed belly, thin and hard with muscle as it was flexed in her stretch. Her delicate features made her beautiful, and it was almost hard to comprehend the iron sinew trained to inhuman strength resting just under her milky chocolate complexion. He would never understand why she loved him, but he would always be glad she did. She could easily have any other man she wanted.

"You're incredible."

She smiled contently and rolled over on top of him unexpectedly, uncaring of the hard piece of male anatomy that was now rubbing her most intimate area. She smiled down at him as he looked up at her and couldn't help but smile back. Her breasts were flattened against his chest and she loved the feeling. It reminded her of earlier tonight.

"We're going to have to get going soon," Kaien whispered, and she frowned exaggeratedly. So he had known after all.

"Just a little longer?" She may know it, but that didn't make her _like_ it.

Kaien shook his head. "We still need to have a shower. If we go back the way we are now there'll be a lot of people looking at us strangely." Kin groaned; she had forgotten about that. "And if you ever want to have anyone down here again we'll probably need to vaporize this area so the scent doesn't get permanently stuck. I'd never be able to come here again without pinning you to the ground," he joked through a small chuckle that reverberated up her body.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," she pouted sarcastically. She knew he was right though, and she had prepared for that at least. Kidou was a wonderful thing. Compared to setting it all up, destroying it would take much less time. Before she knew what was happening, Kaien had flipped them over and set a searing kiss on her lips that had her seeing stars. All too soon he pulled away and she groaned in loss.

"I love you too," she breathed out happily, answering the words given in physical form.

Kaien grinned down on her before removing himself from over her and stumbling his way off the bed, which gave Kin an eyeful of her handiwork on his back. She blushed hotly. Hopefully he didn't have to take off his kimono anytime today. Asuka would never let her live it down. She admired his tight muscles ripple with each movement he made, and licked her lips when he crouched down to get his hakama and she could see the hard organ protruding from his pelvis. _Whoa, down girl! We have to go, remember?_ Still, she couldn't help but wonder how he was still hard after all that. She would have to test out his stamina more extensively later. She grinned hungrily. _Oh yes, definitely._

She pulled herself up and could feel her muscles start to cramp slightly, protesting the movement on the sore sinew. She winced only slightly but then Kaien was right beside her and offering her something from his hand. "What's this?"

He smirked and winked. "Fourth Division energy pill. I always keep a couple on me just in case. I wouldn't want us falling asleep in the middle of Christmas stockings being opened, would you? I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to stay mobile after the buzz wears off."

She laughed lightly. She knew the feeling. She took the pill gratefully and swallowed it without water. Within a second she felt all of her muscles loosen and she felt as good as if she had had a twelve hour sleep. Even what she was sure were developing into bruises could barely be felt, but they were still developing. She flexed a hand experimentally and gazed down in wonder. The Fourth Division was amazing.

"Wow…."

Her fiance smirked again before swallowing his. "Yeah, but I'll warn you now that the crash from these things is pretty harsh. You may feel fine now but as soon as this wears off after a day's energy has been used up, you'll feel the effects of whatever state you were in before you took it. It forces the body to make more electrolytes and enzymes that would normally take time to recharge during sleep, so when we go to sleep tonight we're really going to go to sleep."

It was just like Kaien to try and give an explanation while they were both still completely naked. Not that she minded of course, hell, if anything it would make her pay more attention.

"I guess we should probably go have those showers now."

After Kaien had straightened up after picking up his clothes, he raised an eyebrow. "_Showers_? When did I ever say anything about _showers?_"

Her eyes widened and her brain nearly short-circuited from the amount of fresh adrenaline sent to her brain, along with an embarrassingly large amount of a different fluid to a completely different area. She quickly activated the Kidou she had made to destroy the evidence of their first time because she had just been given reason to hurry. No matter how much she wanted to keep some of it, it just wasn't plausible. Too much evidence remained, and having anything like that linger in this area would be mortifying if anyone ever found it. She turned back to her fiancé and lover and grinned slyly. "Well then, let's go have our _shower_."

Then she was up in his arms and they were on their way.

……

A wonderful sleep beside his wife was interrupted rather rudely by a small body bouncing on the bed of the room they had chosen, shaking him insistently while girlish squeals broke the nice silence of the morning. A sea-green eye opened hesitantly to try a catch a small glimpse of the alarm clock at their bedside.

_Five o'clock in the morning. Dammit._

Technically at least, it _was_ morning. His wife was still dead to the world beside him even though their daughter was shaking her just as excitedly. She had always been able to sleep like a rock, and on days like today he envied her for it. He brushed some of his disheveled white hair back into its regular spikes and stretched groggily, just in time for the energetic projectile that was his youngest daughter to launch into him. He grunted when she collided with him, but there isn't a father in existence that can stay mad at their child when they hug them and look up at them with eyes identical to their own, brimming with childlike enthusiasm.

"It's Christmas!!" The little girl in his arms exclaimed cheerily and hugged her father harder.

He rubbed a hand down her long strawberry-blond hair and sighed sleepily. He had only gone to bed a few hours before, but at least he had filled his kids' stockings before he went to bed. Damn if he wasn't still tired though. On her side of the bed, his wife shifted and grumbled things incoherently, her overly large t-shirt that made up her pajamas crumpled loosely around her. If he didn't love her so much he might have been annoyed.

"Okay Miriam, you go get your mother up and let Daddy get his kimono," he compromised as he wiped his eyes and shuffled off the bed.

Miriam instantly set to work shaking the woman of her same hair color still sleeping, and the busty woman she was trying to wake eventually opened her ice-blue eyes with a disappointed whine. "Hmmm, already?" the husky voice of Rangiku Hitsugaya breathed out.

"Mommy! It's Christmas!!" And then the smaller body was plastered to the chest of the lieutenant. It answered her question.

Even half asleep, Rangiku smiled gently down on her daughter and gave her a good-morning hug back. "Where's Kenji?"

Miriam made a face and pointed over to where her fraternal twin was sitting, waiting for his father to finish dressing. He had received his mother's icy blue eyes and his father's spiky white hair. Essentially, they were two miniature versions of their parents except for the eye color; even their personalities were almost identical. He snorted at her and turned back to his father. The only response that prompted was another face made by the little girl with Toshiro Hitsugaya's eyes.

Aforementioned male finished dressing himself in the standard kimono and didn't even bother with his haori. It was Christmas morning, he could leave work where it belonged. His wife didn't even bother getting into her kimono; she just rolled off the bed with her youngest daughter in her arms and tiredly walked to the door where she waited for her husband and son. They might be the same age as Tsukiyomi and Masaki, but only Kenji acted like it. Then again, he acted exactly like his father, and he had acted like an old man even when he was at his youngest years. Since they aged slower than normal, they still only looked around ten, while in reality they were older.

Still, be they fourteen or four-hundred, Christmas was a holiday everyone looked forward to.

Toshiro ran a hand through his spiky locks as he walked hand-in-hand with his spitting-image, watching his wife doing the same with their daughter in front of them. Sometimes the age his kids looked really threw off his sense of time, he couldn't believe it had already been fourteen years. Rangiku had been delighted when she found out that she was having twins, even more so after she found out Tatsuki was expecting the same.

He had had no experience with kids whatsoever before his wife became pregnant, and even relating to kids had been hard when he was younger because of his intelligence and wisdom. He was grateful for the growth spurt he had went through though, because it would have been really awkward had he had kids looking like one himself. He had hoped to go into the whole parenthood thing slowly, especially after Rangiku brought it up the first time, so hearing he was going to be the father of not one, but _two_ children right off the bat was a bit of a shock to the white-haired captain. He knew a lot of it was instinct, and though he didn't have much of a male model to go after, he did have an example of parenting from the kind old woman that raised him. He had watched Ichigo too, as the young captain became the first out of any of them to announce he was going to be a father, by many years in fact.

Just like Ichigo Kurosaki to show them an aspect of life they had tried to ignore. First emotions, then relationships, then marriage, and eventually parenthood. The man just couldn't leave well enough alone.

Toshiro made a mental note to thank him sometime.

He had been unprepared for the emotions that he found himself going through as he watched the belly of his love grow day after day, and besides being in awe at the wonder of the female body, he found himself _anticipating_ the birth of his children. It helped that for a whole nine months Rangiku had had to stay in the strictest of sobriety, but by the end of it he was kind of _missing_ her inebriated greetings and giggles.

He hadn't been sure he was ready for being a father, but that fear had become harder and harder to maintain as time went on, and when they had been born and his daughter had first opened her eyes to reveal orbs identical to his own in every right, his heart had melted. Rangiku naturally was overjoyed that their little boy had her eyes, and she had squealed in glee when she saw the tuft of white hair on her small child's head.

If someone had told him fourteen years ago that it was possible for his wife to have more of a womanly figure, he would have laughed in their faces. Imagine the genius' surprise when after Rangiku had worked away all the excess baby weight, her hips were even shapelier than they had been before. He was sure her bust was different too, but with her it was kind of hard to tell. He had been smothered in them enough before to notice their change in volume though. _That_ had been beyond surprising.

He wasn't without his own source of male pride though, and he still remembered his wife's—at that time lover's—enthusiasm after he had unexplainably grown into the young man he still looked like today. He had shed the body of the boy and was replaced by the body of the loving partner; it was the only explanation he could come up with. He noticed it in other Soul Reapers who had kept their young appearances despite their age, and noted with interest how they too changed after finding their love, or more logically, a love to be with for life. How he hadn't noticed something as dramatic as that beforehand was something that still bothered the genius to this day, but he chalked it up to the fact that most of his exposure had been in a military setting, and relationships meant for actual emotional ties wasn't something too considered until Ichigo Kurosaki had come into the picture.

The intense sea-green eyes were momentarily warded from their inward contemplation by the captivating motions of the firm flesh of his wife's backside, just barely covered by the end of the long t-shirt she was wearing. He felt his arousal stir and groaned silently. It had been too long since they had last been intimate, and through no fault of his own. How there could be that much paperwork before a holiday was absolutely beyond him, but it would be against his character to leave it to pile up, unlike his wonderfully _supportive_ lieutenant.

_Sarcasm much?_ He thought as he successfully resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It didn't really matter if she was his wife and technically lower in rank than him, she still hadn't changed the way she worked. Or not worked. Whichever. She was a spectacular mother though, and with that in mind he was right, it didn't really matter if he was her husband or technically higher in rank than her, he simply couldn't stay mad at her. He hadn't really changed either.

Fantasies of him pinning her to the nearest wall and taking her while she still wore that infuriatingly simple, yet inexplicably sexy t-shirt came to mind unexpectedly and he bit his lip. _Damn it, Christmas morning of all times._ It had been far too long since he had last seen those full lips parting in rapture and the sensual voice it hid break free in angelic noise as her body met his in carnal desire. _Just a little longer. Maybe I can get the kids to stay here for a while so we can sneak away?_

It was such a tempting idea, so tempting the iron will of Toshiro Hitsugaya was having trouble finding holes in the simple plan. Whether that was because of the actual intelligence of the plan itself or the distractedness born from withdrawal was up for debate. It wasn't his fault he had, arguably, one of the hottest women in Soul Society as his wife. He _was_ Toshiro Hitsugaya though, and that meant he was not one to fall easily for simple pleasures of the flesh. She had done a damn good job at whittling away his self-control over the years however, not to mention the fact that it was his self-control—or lack thereof—that had gotten him into this situation in the first place.

He didn't regret it for a second.

A light tug was felt on his hand and he looked down to see his son looking up at him. He quickly brushed away his previous thoughts. "What is it?"

His son merely pointed forward, to the front of where his mother and sister had frozen in place, as Toshiro was just realizing. He looked over to where his son was pointing and nearly did a double-take. Two surprises were seen, one a little bit of a surprise and the other a freaking gigantic 'is-the-earth-ending?' kind of surprise. The first, small surprise was that they were _not_ the first ones up.

Kaien and Kin were sitting on one of the couches of the living room nursing warm cups of tea as Christmas music played softly in the background, a welcome change from the dead silence of the unearthly hour. Kaien was only wearing a pair of flannel pajama pants and a muscle shirt, but they accentuated his strength more than anything else would have. Kin was wearing a pair of shorts and a white dress shirt that looked much too large for her, but he didn't even want to _guess_ as to where she got it. Thankfully, the lights had been dimmed and set the scene into a soft glow rather than agonizing florescent light and the colored lights of the Christmas decorations made for a very nice atmosphere. He noticed their hair was both still in varying degrees of dampness, and that meant they had to have had showers. _Hn, I didn't even hear any water running. Oh well._

He couldn't get the thought out of his head that they looked…different, but he tried his best to repress it. Kaien's gaze was gentle, but he could practically see the glow of male pride that had been kindled in them. Kin was resting right against his side and had he not been using both hands to hold his tea and coaster, Toshiro had the nagging suspicion his arm would have been around her shoulders to pull her closer. Kaien's entire _presence_ seemed to radiate possessiveness. Kin's cocoa skin seemed flushed in a most becoming manner, almost like she was…glowing. Her eyes were soft and warm to the degree that only a woman in love could achieve, like the kind Rangiku made at him after….

Silence decided right then was a good time to settle over his mind. It was a good thing too, he wasn't really sure he wanted to finish that particular thought, especially not when it seemed to be the most logical explanation. They were both talking quietly, but that was when the other, _huge_ surprise came in.

They weren't just talking to each other.

Who should be sitting beside them, as regally as ever on a separate chair, wearing only a simple—rather extravagant and expensive actually, but it was simple for _him_—kimono, rather than his shihakushou and haori, but Byakuya Kuchiki. He was as calm as ever, serenely drinking the tea he too was cupping gingerly in his hands. As if that weren't shock enough, they all looked completely _awake_.

Rangiku was the first to regain her mental faculties, as unlikely as that seems. "C-Captain Kuchiki!? What are you doing here!?"

The steel-grey eyes of the aforementioned noble slid over to regard her from the corner of their eyelids before they shut dismissively while he took another sip of tea. "It is a brother's responsibility to be there for his niece and nephew. Masaru and Hitomi are not ones to sleep-in on this morning." That curt answer given, he went back to his tea. He was of course, talking about Rukia and Renji's two children.

As if on cue, a small earthquake that was the repeated patter of running little feet was heard thumping down the halls. Byakuya's lips edged up only slightly to display his amusement, and soon after two little bodies skidded to a stop right outside the living room.

"I won!" Masaru declared proudly.

"Did not! You cheated!" The little girl named Hitomi yelled right back.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did t—"

"Please keep your voices down. It's still very early in the morning," Byakuya interjected calmly, and both children froze on the spot. Their heads turned hesitantly like machines that needed a good oiling until they were looking at the source of the voice that had reprimanded them, and their mouths did shut, though only momentarily.

"Uncle Byakuya!" they both cried out at the same time and rushed the stoic noble trying valiantly to keep his lips from edging any further up. He didn't even seem to mind his previous order was already forgotten.

Other than the deep regret of not being able to save Hisana, Byakuya Kuchiki had one other regret. They had never had children together. Usually the part of spoiling children was left to grandparents in the Living World, but he took it upon himself to take up that role, even if he kept up his regular demeanor most of the time. Keeping up that demeanor was not always an easy task however, especially looking into the face of the girl with pitch-black hair and eyes so impossibly violet they nearly looked dark blue. Looking at Rukia had been hard enough, but Hitomi…he swore he could almost see Hisana smiling at him whenever the pint-sized girl did. It was both heart-wrenching and blissful at the same time.

Masaru…well, Masaru reminded him a lot of his ex-lieutenant, the flaming red hair standing in stark contrast to the jet black of his sister. He was different in some ways from his ex-lieutenant, most noticeable being the small boy—that was still small even though his age was otherwise—took after his mother even though he was only in the first year at the academy. It was only his nature as a True-Blood that allowed him to take the year at such an early age. He was a Kidou prodigy, whereas his father could barely blow himself up properly. There was one way to tell his was related to his sister though; they both had the same eye color. Hitomi's simply suited her better.

Even though his regret was great, he would never try to project his desire of children onto them. They were Rukia's children, and he was perfectly content to act the part of the grandfather. Heaven knows the Kuchiki elders wouldn't come near them even with a ten foot pole. That was fine in his eyes; he would rather have their sole attention anyway.

The two kids slid to a stop right in front of the seated noble and tried not to look openly apprehensive as the cool grey eyes regarded them with hidden scrutiny. They knew enough about him to not do anything overly reckless, and since they were two of the few people in the universe that were cared for by the stoic noble, that only went to show how much he maintained his image. Or at least, that's his story and he's sticking to it.

Byakuya put his tea down on the arm-table beside him and the two knew right away from his slight smile that he was ready. They then proceeded to do what would earn death were it anyone else. They jumped up onto him and _hugged_ him. Then he proceeded to do what would short-circuit anyone's brain. He hugged them _back_.

Rukia and Renji, though both in stages of lucidity, were awake enough to freeze solid upon witnessing the scene. Even if they'd seen it at Christmases past, it was still a hard thing to get over after putting up with his ice-king persona for so long. Kaien merely took another sip of his tea. He wasn't that surprised. He had, after all, been cut by Senbonzakura, and absorbed all of her memories, memories which included Byakuya's time with Hisana. Gaining a zanpakutou's memories was essentially gaining all of the wielder's memories from a third person point of view, so acts of tenderness like this weren't too bad to see compared to the others he had been privy to.

"Merry Christmas," Byakuya said, just loud enough for them to hear.

They clasped on harder. "Merry Christmas, Uncle Byakuya!!"

They still hadn't remembered to quiet down.

"I believe you still have some presents to open, do you not?"

Needless to say, the two in his lap weren't there very much longer. Their childlike enthusiasm was only natural given the growth rate of beings in the Spiritual realm, case in point being Yachiru. Most had a lingering suspicion the little girl simply didn't _want_ to grow up, so she didn't, and in Soul Society stranger things have happened so it couldn't be refuted logically.

It would seem the ruckus the two Abarai children made was enough to wake others as well, because one by one the guests started trickling in, the children much more energetic than the adults accompanying them naturally. Even Yoruichi and Kisuke managed to get up with everyone else, and the fact that their daughter was already awake surprised them immensely. It was funny, the only ones not up after the next half-hour were the Kurosaki's. Only Kaien and Isshin were awake, but then again Isshin was…Isshin. That's the best and only way to put it. High energy and stupidity were his forte, so getting up on Christmas day was nothing.

The first of the aforementioned people to stumble in was Tsukiyomi, but one could hardly call the way she walked in a stumble. She walked just like he princess she was, and her elegant, impossibly white hair wafted behind her with each graceful step. It was truly a completely different person from the one she fought against every moment of every day, that being her Hollow nature. All the little girls and—not surprisingly—some of the little boys seemed to be in awe of the demure teen as she strode confidently to a seat and sat down like she hadn't been one of the few that was holding up everyone else from opening gifts. The surprise came when she settled down next to Sora Ishida, and his pale skin lit up endearingly to match his orange hair.

Masaki kind of did stumble in, but she took after her father more than she'd like to admit in that respect. Ikki was walking beside her and giggling girlishly at her counterpart's actions, and she waved as everyone greeted the new arrivals. It hadn't seemed to catch their attention that there was a new person sitting amongst the many already there the night before, but then again that could have just been the morning drowsiness hindering their reiatsu detection abilities.

"Merry Christmas, Masaki, Ikasam. You look well today," the deep voice said amicably.

There were only a few people that caught the way Masaki's hunched, tired body went completely rigid when those words hit her ears, and their curiosity rose in interest, though they didn't voice it. Thankfully there was no one in front of her to see her face, but Ikki could _feel_ the blood rushing to her host's—sister's?—head. The orange-haired girl moved her head only slightly to try and verify the source of the voice and _'eeped'_ gracelessly when she saw her Shunpo teacher sitting regally on one of the recliners.

"M-Merry Christmas, M-Master Byakuya," she replied with a fair deal less of her trademark energy. In fact, she seemed downright _embarrassed._

Rukia could hardly contain her laughter. Her inner self was practically rolling in demonic glee as it clapped its hands together. Why her inner self looked suspiciously like Chappy no-one would ever know. Oh she couldn't wait to hold this one over her best friend's daughter's head. She knew that kind of behavior anywhere. Masaki Kurosaki _liked_ her _brother_.

_This is practically too good to be true!!!_ Rukia squealed inwardly. It looked like she was getting an extra present this year. Things would be interesting to watch in the following times—likely years—if the crush lasted that long. If Masaki was anything like her father though, she knew her beloved 'Nii-sama' was in for some _interesting_ times. _God help you, Nii-sama._ For once, she knew her brother was going to need all the help he could get.

Then Ichigo semi-waltzed, semi-fell his way into the room and she nearly forgot she was married. The only thing he was wearing was a pair of sweatpants and his entire chiseled torso was open for examination. While she did admit Renji's tattoos had a certain charm to them, there was just something about the tanned bare skin toned to absolute perfection that had her mouth producing extra moisture as her lips paradoxically went dry. He flopped down onto one of the nearby recliners and Tatsuki settled herself comfortably in his lap, earning a content sound that rumbled deep from the back of his throat. Rukia shifted uncomfortably, if Renji ever made a sound like that she was sure she would have stained her underwear right then. Oh great, now she wanted him to. Just great. _Oh well,_ she thought sadly. _There's always later._

Oh yes, there would be later.

Without further ado the gift stockings were torn into and the joyful laughter of children and adult alike started radiating from the large living room. Having friends over for Christmas was an event that might just become a tradition in the Kurosaki household. It certainly livened things up. With another member on the way, the help…err _guests… _would be much appreciated for sure.

Meanwhile the only person to seem even slightly sober—in the mental sense—was busy debating what could have happened to Kaien. He seemed so…relaxed, and his body practically _radiated_ love and possessiveness. She hadn't seen him like this since…ever. Meanwhile the mystery of Kin was getting larger too. Where on earth had she seen that look before?

_Oh_. _OH!!_

Asuka Jaegerjaques' lips curled into an impossibly smug grin.

"So Kaien," she started off-handedly to catch his attention. Satisfied she now had his eyes on her while he was taking another sip of tea, she continued, "did you enjoy your _present?_"

Kaien started choking on his tea.

That alone was more than enough of an answer. This was going to be an interesting day. She had a sinking feeling the adults around them were also on edge. She would have to wait and see.

And get details from Kin.

…

**Author's Notes:** Ah, I love foreshadowing, LOL! Thanks to those that keep reviewing this, and I hope you continue to enjoy it. I love going over this story again, it's so much fun. At last it looks like I'm getting to where I started being more careful with my writing, so as long as I keep remembering to update this we should be fine, LOL!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please tell me about it!


	16. The Twisted Flower Blooms Again

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Friendly warning once again. This chapter contains lemon.**

…

**The Twisted Flower Blooms Again**

…

How to describe Christmas so far. It could be summed up in a few words for Kaien Kurosaki. It had been nerve-wracking, but that had been taken care of thanks to a simple 'yes.' It had been surprising, that from a sword spirit receiving a sword, which he still couldn't entirely explain, not without coming to the conclusion that part of his soul was now a woman. That was only because they had melded together more than she becoming a part of his inner world, since doing that was impossible because he _was_ his own inner world.

The thought still kind of disturbed him.

There had been exhilarating, emotional, and indescribable all rolled into one, through a gift that could only be given once. He knew he would never forget that night for the rest of his life.

And then there would be mortifying. That had been going on for a while now. He couldn't even _look_ at Asuka without her winking at him or giving him a smile that said way too well how much she had already gathered. Her senses were second only to his, and he knew even if she couldn't smell any concrete evidence, she could tell from scent alone if a woman was claimed or not.

That wasn't to say there weren't flings in Hueco Mundo, in fact that would be furthest from the truth being that instinct ran rampant and urges were denied very little, but the fact that virgins smelled different was realized very quickly once the threat of war left and Arrancars could try to obtain a somewhat normal life. Considering this was the Living World, the smell was all the more prominent, as was the difference between the two. He was sure Chad could probably tell the difference too thanks to his mixed heritage, but the bronze giant had shown no difference in demeanor so far, or shown in any way that he even suspected anything. Kaien thanked God for his friend's mercy.

They were currently eating breakfast after the gifts had all been opened, and it was pretty much a first-come-first-serve scenario, as many of the kids had rushed away to play with their new gifts rather than bothering to eat. If they were hungry, they would come; that was the great thing about having a buffet-style setting for the food.

Other than Asuka however, everyone else was none the wiser, and if Halibel and Ulquiorra knew anything they had wisely chosen to keep their mouths shut. Being that it was a laid-back day where even the Soul Reapers that had come could take the day off, the traditional black shihakushou was practically nowhere to be seen. Regular kimonos or more casual dress had been adopted for the day, and Kaien had to admit Kin looked absolutely amazing in the pair of jeans she was wearing. How she had managed to get them on he would never know, but he couldn't really bring himself to care being that he was too entranced with her movements in them to bother wondering. Even a few of the captains had opted for more worldly dress rather than the age-old Soul Society kimonos. Kaien now had a very good idea what Jyushiro Ukitake had seen in Retsu Unohana, other than her kind personality that could melt the heart of even a Hollow, if they had one anyway. Damn if she couldn't fill out a t-shirt.

He too had changed out of his pajamas of course, not like he had worn them long anyways, but they were just another thing used to give the effect that he had stayed in bed all night. Well, he _had_ stayed in bed all night, but he hadn't been wearing pajamas, nor was it his bed, and it wasn't exactly for the use of sleeping. But hey, other than that, he _had_ stayed in bed all night. The only reason he had even changed out of his muscle shirt was because Kin had noticed rather embarrassedly that the marks on his back went out to his shoulders, so they were still slightly visible. He had laughed, and that earned him a punch to the shoulder that still kind of smarted, but he had changed into a t-shirt and a pair of black cargo pants.

He was his mother's son, after all.

Speaking of his mother, she was walking over to him right now. She was still in her kimono naturally, as her belly had swollen just enough to make her regular pants uncomfortable and she wasn't one to wear maternity clothes. Ever. "Like your gifts this year?" she asked happily as she hugged her son's neck from behind, since he was still sitting down.

Kaien nearly choked again and had to forcefully stop the blood that wanted to rush up to his face at the question. Thankfully his mother had no idea about his favorite gift of the season. Swallowing his mouthful carefully, Kaien put a hand on one of his mother's arms. "In other words, 'when can we play your new video games?'" he answered sarcastically, and he could practically feel Tatsuki's pout.

"Is it not okay for me to like my son's interests? I was the one who got you into video games in the first place!" She gave him a soft rap upside the head for safe measure.

"Ow jeez!" he laughed, "fine, fine! No need to get violent!" So as unlikely as it may seem, the mother and son left to play video games, of all things, together. At least he would be able to get away from Asuka for a little while this way. He didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to put up with it.

Kin merely watched them go with veiled amusement, absolutely oblivious to Asuka's innuendo. "Sometimes I wonder why he's still into those things. He can do more than most of those games' heroes, so why bother?"

Asuka grinned cattily. "He likes the storylines. It's not often in real life that characters can go through that much crap and still end up together." For some reason, Kin coughed. "And it goes without saying they both like beating things up without having to worry about any consequences."

The golden-eyed woman rolled her eyes. "I forgot about that one."

"It's good training too. Those first-person shooters really train hand-eye coordination and reaction times."

Kin stared at the person who had said that. She had never figured the stuck-up Quincy as a gamer. "And when did you get into video games?"

Souken adjusted his glasses as a physical instead of audible scoff. "Kaien showed me their usefulness in Hueco Mundo."

"In other words he got tired of being left out of me, Chad, and Kaien's gaming sessions," Asuka clarified jokingly, and the light blush that dusted the archer's face gave Kin good reason to believe it.

"I'd really like another real fight again. We should see if we could get any of the others here into it and then like, draw swords or something to see who fights who," Kin suggested. Kaien was gone from her side for all of a minute and she was already getting antsy.

"That sounds like a great idea!"

Their heads all snapped over to the voice that had said that to see Ichigo leaning lazily against a wall.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline. Rangiku and I were hoping to go out for a while today," Toshiro interjected. He saw his wife look over at him confusedly but then she stopped immediately after she saw an all too familiar glint in his eyes when he looked back. She tried to stop the sultry smile that wanted to break out on her lips, and only half succeeded. He hadn't been the only one fighting off his more base urges, and to be completely honest she had been wondering why he hadn't jumped her yet. She had always known how to use her appeal, and it seemed like _forever_ since they had had any relief.

"Y-Yeah, that's right," she confirmed.

The orange-haired captain shrugged, none the wiser to anyone's plans. "Too bad, so wh—"

"Actually Ichigo, Renji and I thought we'd go out too. We haven't been to the Living World in a while," Rukia interrupted, and this time Renji looked over, downright stupefied.

"When did we—OW!" He yelped when his wife's foot suddenly kicked him rather harshly in the shin from under the table. "Uh, yeah, we're going out pretty soon." Rukia smiled innocently at him and placed her hand in his, and only then did he feel the tension that was practically making her muscles tremble. Inwardly, Renji Abarai finally understood, and his heart-rate nearly skyrocketed.

Ichigo scratched his head confusedly. "Well, uh, sure I guess. Byakuya's here so he could probably make sure the kids don't do anything stu—" Something finally seemed to occur to the ex-substitute Shinigami mid-sentence, likely at his own mention of 'kids,' "—pid." He grinned wickedly. "Sure, we don't mind. Has anyone else made plans?"

Ichigo Kurosaki, master of subtlety.

Yeah right.

Sado cleared his throat politely. "We probably won't go shopping, but Halibel has never really been escorted around the Living World in any kind of detail. Today's as good a day as any." Unlike the others, there was no way to tell if he had any kind of ulterior motive, and since Halibel didn't seem the least bit surprised, it would seem this had actually been planned.

This time Ichigo could only shrug. "Sure, whatever."

"I'd actually like to stay and have a bout. It's been too long since I've seen some actual action, and…I'd like to see how Kaien fights a veteran opponent," Jyushiro spoke up, and Retsu smiled from beside him. She knew better than anyone that his disease had truly been holding him back. In more ways than one it was true, but she was the only one that _really_ knew that.

Ichigo could practically feel his sister's sadistic grin. "A fight? Count me in!" Karin Schiffer wasn't one to turn down a fight, no matter who the opponent.

At Ichigo's questioning gaze, Ulquiorra merely closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. "Trivial," the one-worded answer came.

The King of Hueco Mundo rolled his eyes. He really should have seen that one coming. Masaki and her other half were nowhere to be seen, so he didn't even bother, and Tsukiyomi could have so many things go wrong he knew she shouldn't, but he knew she would anyway. She could never resist a good bout, which was funny because out of all of them she looked like the one most regal and calm. Truly unlike her real nature.

"Sure, why not?" Asuka agreed.

Souken sighed. "Might as well."

Ichigo grinned and clapped his hands together with an air of finality. "Then it's settled!"

What an activity for Christmas day.

………

He was on his last leg; if he didn't do something soon he was a goner for sure. Damn it was hard, his movements weren't near as fast as his usual and his attacks didn't pack near the punch they would in any other situation. Normally he would be able to count on any number of things to get him out of something like this, but this time he was just screwed, no questions asked.

_Damn damn damn damn damn!!!_

Finally his luck changed and his lack of health helped his burdened self. It was exactly what he needed; if he could pull it off he would win!

Too bad his special took too long to charge, and all too soon the words 'Game Over' were lit in bright flashy letters all over the screen in front of him. How she always managed to find the person with the fastest, strongest special was absolutely beyond him, and had his blood not been so complacent for the time being he doubted he would have been able to keep his calm. That didn't mean he wasn't seriously considering crushing the controller in his hands, but he was still human after all.

Tatsuki grinned at her son and stuck her tongue out victoriously. "I may not be able to fight in real life, but I can still beat you at video games!!"

Kaien Kurosaki raised his eyes towards heaven and sighed mournfully. _Why me!?_

Thankfully, a knock on the door made any further humiliation momentarily impossible. "Hey Kaien! We're starting some sparring matches to kill some time, wanna join!?" Asuka's excited voice asked from behind the door.

Oblivious to his mother's mock scowl, Kaien quickly turned to the door and dropped the controller. "Coming!" And before the word had even been finished he had opened the door and bolted past a now shocked Asuka. Talk about divine intervention.

Aforementioned woman raised an eyebrow before looking into the room curiously to see Tatsuki still holding her controller. "Ah, you beat him _again_?" she queried mirthfully as she flicked some of her inhumanly long neon hair out of her face.

The Queen of Hueco Mundo merely grinned stupidly. "Can't let him be good at _everything_, can I?"

The two snickered quietly as they walked out the room. Tatsuki may not have been allowed to fight, but she sure wasn't going to miss a chance to watch her family have some fun on her behalf. Being who they were, training could never be done often enough.

………

Meanwhile, there was another kind of fight going on, though not of swords.

For nearing the end of December, it wasn't really that cold, or maybe the faux body simply hadn't been properly equipped with cold receptors. She knew that was probably a lie, because her skin was tightening to an almost painful degree the longer they walked. He had been so much fun to antagonize before, and normally a woman took longer to arouse than a man, but damn, she had never been able to resist him for too long anyways.

It wasn't like she made any effort to hold him off; in fact it was the opposite. She loved skimpy lingerie, and she had been making full use of its other possible effect for a good while now, though nothing had happened much to her dismay. Her t-shirts were a personal favorite though; she simply loved it when he was the one to instigate their lovemaking. She was famous for her appeal, and she usually used that until her partner was too excited to control themselves. She never thought she'd get married, but then again she never thought she'd fall in love again after Gin either

Who was she to resist spiky white hair and sea-green eyes? He simply didn't know how inexplicably attractive he was, even before, in a child's body. She was a woman who appreciated beauty, even if it meant agreeing with Yumichika every now and then. He was impossible to read too, but that made the game all the more fun. She never knew when he was close to breaking and some times would be faster or slower than others; he was simply impossible. She had broken through his ice-cold demeanor enough times to know certain things about him; she wouldn't be his wife if she didn't.

She had been waiting so long for this all it took was a glance for her blood-flow to increase. It didn't help that that 'glance' had been so full of pent-up lust she had practically lost it on the spot. She had taught him too well. Unlike her, he knew _every_ button to push on her, and he had spent many, _many_, hours finding each and every one of them over the course of their relationship. There had been nothing controlled about that intense gaze though, it had been pure desire out of his love for her that prompted that gaze, and it was those that she had never been able to resist at all.

Her arm was wrapped into his as her head lay gently on his shoulder as they walked; something made all the more unbearable because of the way she could feel his muscles trembling in barely-maintained restraint. It was simply who he was, but when he let himself go he was something else altogether. Oh how she wanted that.

It had been well worth it to keep the rent on Orihime's old apartment after all, otherwise they would have had nowhere to go other than the Kurosaki's. Being a resident of the spiritual realm did have its disadvantages. Cold was cold, no way around that.

"Pleeeeeease Shiro, can't we use Shunpo?" she whined at last, when her self-control—what little of it there was in the first place—had been completely depleted and she nibbled seductively on the ear so close to her mouth. Said man froze in place at the contact and she noticed instantly how fast his breathing had suddenly become. If he had been a Hollow, he would have probably lost it a long time ago because of the scent of her arousal, but being that he wasn't imbued with those particular abilities, Rangiku took it upon herself to bring him to the brink.

Less then a second later a strong hand had gripped her firmly under her knees and shoulders and her captain had spirited her to their one place of solitude in the Living World. The door was all but broke down before it was shut and locked and she had been pushed against the nearest wall, his lips on hers, kissing her, loving her, devouring her. Her ice-blue eyes rolled back in her head when his hand roughly tore the button from her pants and his fingers dove unashamedly down her panties with just as much force as he knew she liked. She was so wet already, and the intrusion was welcome respite from the lack of attention they had been forced to endure. Her first moan broke their kiss and her low, lustful voice sliced through his remaining control just like it did the air.

He had been waiting so long for this. He could feel his wife's inner muscles contracting around his fingers and soaking them with more of her fluids, but he wasn't one to rush into things. By the time he was done with her he was going to have her _begging_ for him, it was only appropriate punishment for what she had put him through. His arousal was straining against his blue jeans, tenting the denim material to the maximum extent, enough even to cause him a great deal of discomfort. He wanted her so bad, the sexy vixen that was the mother of his children and the love of his life.

His hungry gaze wasn't satisfied by the amount of cleavage her blouse currently allowed and it was discarded instantaneously by his free hand as she squirmed in his grip as his fingers continued to probe her inner depths. Her frilly bra was the next to go, but he didn't even waste time on that, instead he tore the offending garment from her body and released her ample bosom to his vision at last.

"Hey! I really liked that o—oohhhhhhhh…." Her words trailed off into oblivion when his mouth clamped on to one of her sensitive nipples and he chose that moment to brush her engorged clitoris with his thumb. For some reason she had forgotten how talented his tongue was, and he used that to his full advantage, swirling and teasing the pink nub between his teeth with artist's strokes. Conscious thought had long since abandoned the strawberry-blonde woman and animalist lust was the closest thing that could describe what had replaced it. She knew how sensitive the nipples were on her large bust, and he knew that too. She couldn't get enough.

"Oh Shiro! Oh, oh Shiro!!!" She was still fully clothed from the waist down, but she couldn't care less at the moment, not as long as he didn't stop. Thus, one can only imagine her frustration when he _did_ stop, but then she felt her pants and panties trailing down her legs to pool at her feet. Not even so much as she had the time to kick them aside had her husband's head replaced where her undergarments had been, and her knees promptly buckled when his eager tongue took over for his fingers. She collapsed onto his kneeling form as he vigorously sent her careening towards the edge of heaven, and her naked body shivered and trembled as she sat on his shoulders. His strong hands were digging into her backside, kneading the firm flesh and pushing her wet folds closer to him as her fingers wound themselves into his hair in every attempt at nonverbal pleading possible, even as her voice loudly exclaimed her pleasure to the air.

Fifteen years of marriage and he still couldn't get enough of her. Her taste was impossible to describe, and it was all his. She was his. He delved deeper, trying to taste as much as possible, trying to ignite as many nerves as possible, trying to send her as close to insanity as possible. He supposed he wasn't really being that hard on her, after all, had he been trying he would probably stop right away and halt what he knew was going to happen; lucky for her he was just as starving as she was. He was going to make sure she could barely walk if he had his way.

She couldn't take any more. He had been relentless in everything that he knew she liked and she wasn't going to be able to hold on any longer. Her body was tingling from the adrenaline and all the shocks of pleasure being sent to her brain and she simply couldn't hold on any longer. With a sharp cry and an explosion of light behind her eyelids she climaxed into his waiting mouth and she practically melted into the wall. She really had taught him too well, but she couldn't bring herself to care; not after that.

"Shiro, that was incredible," she moaned as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

He gave a cocky smirk as he stood up in front of her and threw off his shirt, revealing his toned torso to her heated gaze. "We've just started," he replied lowly.

She noticed very quickly the tented material presented right before her and she licked her lips in anticipation. Her eyes widened when she saw his hands trailing down to the button of his jeans and she quickly reached over and grabbed the waistband. "Ah ah, ahhh," she reprimanded slyly. "Allow me."

She pushed him back until he fell into a seated position on the bed she had aimed them towards. Wasting no time, she snapped open his jeans and he raised his hips to allow her to pull them and his boxers off his body as his socks were discarded just as quickly. Again, she licked her lips when his throbbing manhood was revealed in all its naked glory to her. He had been impressive before, but how was she to know he was going to grow so drastically after she had told him she loved him? This was no boy, this was a _man_ sitting before her.

She had never seen him so hard before, and she could _see_ his pulse as his erection throbbed with every pump of his blood. She settled herself comfortably between his open legs and stared up at him sensually, drinking in the way he was staring back just as intensely at the beauty sitting naked under him. She brushed back her long hair and before he could even say anything she had laid a feather-light kiss to the side of his aching organ. She enjoyed the way his breath left him in a broken gasp and she engulfed the whole head into her mouth as she teased him with her tongue, causing the man sitting on the bed before her to crush the sheets between his fingers.

She released him and admired the view of her handiwork before gently blowing, and watched as every muscle she could see went rigid when the sensitive wet flesh was assaulted by the cool air. He had no idea how gratifying he was to her ego, especially in the bedroom. She had had a few other lovers before him, but none of the sounds they made came close to the ones she reveled in when she pleased him. The other thing was before, his cold, captain persona—that had never been given any reason to voice his approval of her other than her rescue of Hinamori—had made her desperately pay acute attention to any mild gesture that would suggest his appreciation of her. She loved watching him as she teased him, pleasured him, and basically made the almighty arrogant genius squirm under her ministrations. Of course, he had voiced many times since their relationship had started how much he really appreciated her, _loved_ her, but old habits were hard to break.

She took him into her mouth as much as she was able and heard the strangled choke he gave in response, which sent a bolt of pleasure through _her_ as well. She had never had anything against this particular act, but her Shiro was the only one that had ever had this effect on her. Unable to resist keeping her other pleasure center occupied, she started slowly manipulating her breasts, even raising them to help her ministrations on the hard flesh in her mouth. This was nearly as bad as it was for her as it was for him, because now not only were her heavenly breasts rubbing the most sensitive part of his anatomy, but one of her most sensitive places was being rubbed by his. Her womanhood tingled with every hoarse yelp or gruff moan as she dragged her teeth lightly along his supersensitive flesh, and her nipples were so stiff the diamond-hard peaks were almost numb. Taking him in completely, with a familiar spasm of his hips his warmth went easily down her throat. It was the last straw for her, and just like so often in the past, she felt the tightly wound coil snap within her. She moaned loudly even though she had yet to take him out of her mouth, which made Toshiro lose any muscle strength he might have had left in his arms and he fell back to the bed with a low moan.

His plan at getting back at her had been a dismal failure. She gave as good as she got any day and today was no different. Even as his blurry eyes spied the secretions flowing down her legs as she stood to straddle him on the bed, he knew she had gotten him just as good, if not better, than he had her at the beginning. He shuffled himself up to lie fully on the bed, and resisted the urge to moan when his erection brushed the cleft of his wife's firm ass. She apparently had no desire to resist anything, and she gave a sensual moan with her low, seductive voice at the action before she leaned down to press her lips against his, thus molding her large breasts to his broad chest.

There was no denying her, he loved her too much. He also loved the feel of her soft flesh in his arms, so without words he wrapped his arms around her to rub soothing designs of no particular origin in her back. She melted even further into his touch, and desperate for relief now, he push his hips up before quickly pulling them away, and since her hips were much slower in coming down he had already aligned himself and in one swift motion he was inside her. Her pale-blue eyes flew open and her mouth moved incoherently, though no words came out.

_Oh damn I've missed this!!!_ She screamed inwardly, unable to express it in any vocal form. Even when he was beneath her, it was never hard for him to take control, just like she wanted. Being filled again after so long had her panting above him, having long since broken their kiss and now vigorously bouncing on top of him. None of her other lovers had even gotten her close to how aroused she was with Toshiro, not even Gin. Even after their two children he still fit tightly within her, so snug it was hard for her to even breathe every time she dropped herself down and was impaled by his throbbing girth. Her nerves lit up constantly, assaulting her brain and body with so many signals of bliss remembering to do something as simple as blink was beyond her current ability.

Meanwhile Toshiro was faring no better. He wanted her so badly fighting off his orgasm instantly after he was within her again had been a nearly impossible feat. Luckily for him he was Toshiro Hitsugaya, and not one to lose control so easily. He needed to regain control of his muscles, because his wife had made every sinew in his body unresponsive to his calls, and the only thing he was registering was the mind-shattering shocks of pleasure that bolted through his body with every hard descent of her curvaceous body. Finally, something in his brain clicked into place, and within the second he had grabbed her hips and rolled them over as he jabbed his hips forward, beginning her cries anew. He wasn't one to complain against hard lovemaking, but right then he needed ithard _and_ fast.

Rangiku's eyes rolled back in her head when her lover started pounding into her with the full might of his reiatsu behind him, and any vocal exclamations of his name she might have been screaming before turned into unintelligible sounds simply meant to express her pleasure. Her tongue had long escaped the confines of her mouth in her panted breaths and she had the sense left to lean up and lick the firm nubs so close to her mouth as he thrust into her, his sweat-slicked body so close to her. He bit his lip to keep his concentration else he lose it too early—she knew from experience—but she knew she wasn't going to last much longer either and wanted him to join her. Sadly, it wasn't under any conscious actions of hers that evoked that end, instead when he leaned down to return the favor to her erratically bouncing bosom her limit was broken and she tightened around him instinctively as she came with a high scream.

"SHIRO!!!"

There was no way to go on any longer under the onslaught of his lover's contracting inner muscles, and with a few more erratic thrusts he too climaxed just as violently. "Rangiku!!!"

He had never had any previous experience before her, but he was sure she was the only one that could make him lose it enough to shout her name. His mind went blank as his orgasm continued while she continued to milk him for everything he could give and he collapsed on top of her slick body, his head nestled between the soft pillows that were her breasts.

"It's been too damn long," he whispered out hoarsely as he breathed in her sweet scent and reveled in the feel of her glistening skin against his.

She moaned contently in agreement and he felt himself hardening again. "You're not done yet, are you?"

He growled lowly and nipped at the sensitive flesh his head was resting on. "You had better be kidding."

He was going to show her that there were such things as stupid questions in this world.

………

She had been married for so long she had thought nothing could affect her anymore, especially not _him._ She had went to visit him and his family of course during their long absence, often with her entire family—which had done wonders for her kids' reiatsu growth, much to her chagrin—so she had thought she had gotten over him. She had, for the most part, she knew that, because it was thoughts of her husband making that sound that had her moistening, but she couldn't help but feel a little strange that it had been _him_ of all people to make her want that again.

Yes, Rukia Abarai was rather annoyed at Ichigo Kurosaki.

Luckily, that was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.

With a particularly powerful thrust Renji scratched that spot inside her that turned her arms to jelly and she slumped against his large chest with a pleasured gasp. The difference in size between them may seem ludicrous to most people, but they had very little knowledge about how magnificent that made their lovemaking. Even after children he still stretched her, and he filled her up so completely it was like she had just ate an entire meal and would never be hungry again.

"Gah!" The sound escaped her mouth unbidden at the other sudden jolt as he hit that spot again, then again, and again, until she was sure she was drooling from the lack of muscle control in her body. Her consciousness was fading to make room for all the bliss overloading her brain and the only sounds she found she could make were croaked moans and hushed whimpers.

Even though the temperature around her was much less friendly than the warmth of summer her body felt like it was boiling her from the inside out. She hadn't even made it to any kind of motel or even to any place indoors, heck, she was lucky she had made it to the alley they were in. Her dress and meager coat—the only thing really needed, as it wasn't _that_ cold—were the only things protecting her back from the stone wall but she couldn't give a damn. It helped that her force was exceptionally arousing to Renji, and he was using that enthusiasm to make her forget everything except the fullness between her legs.

His prayers had been answered years ago when she agreed to enter a relationship with him, then they had been answered when she agreed to marry him, and now they were being answered once again. She could excite him at a moment's notice and the thought that they could be caught at any time, being that they were still in their gigais, was even more arousing.

He clenched his eyes shut to try and fight off the end that seemed to be rapidly approaching him. Rukia was just too hot for her own good. She was small, but that petite figure had turned even more shapely with the onset of children, the most noticeable being the slight growth of her breasts. Before she looked like an elementary school student even in the most formal of clothes, but now she looked like an exotic woman that had a slight body but a woman's physique. Watching her moan and squirm in his grip as he plunged into her again and again, and seeing the body still constrained by clothes fall into the abyss of rapture because of him was a sight that never ceased to amaze him, even if they had never done it like this.

He wished he had thought of it sooner.

The cold air fighting against their paradoxically heated skin both pushed them closer to the edge and farther away at the same time, prolonging and yet quickening their time joined together. Trying to put a finger on the feeling was impossible, because their bodies didn't know if they wanted to shiver or sweat. Pleasure was the one medium that never left them through it all, and their systems could hardly take all the signals jumping from every synapse.

His legs were losing feeling, but not because of the cold, no it wasn't nearly cold enough to do that, but because of the numbness brought on by his wife. She was biting her lip now, fighting off the feelings crashing about inside her as well he was sure. She looked adorable when she did that, and combined with the fact that her inner muscles were practically killing him with their pressure he knew he wasn't going to be able to last. Her wet heat was exactly that, and the incredible noises she was making under her breath lest they be caught by some passerby were having drug-like effects on him.

"Rukia…I'm not gonna…"

She didn't let him say anything more, she just crushed her lips against his as he continued to keep her lifted as he pounded into her, and with a breathless gasp her head fell against his shoulder. "Please…now…do it…now…!!"

He probably wouldn't have been able to hold out even if she hadn't asked him to. With a few more jerky motions and one final, powerful thrust his knees wobbled and he came inside his lover with a drawn-out masculine moan that bordered on a grunt. Rukia had nothing left, and her husband's explosion inside her sent her falling off the edge of oblivion at a dead sprint. Her tense muscles simultaneously relaxed and contracted, and she couldn't even make a sound as her body succumbed to the bliss fighting for control of her. She shuddered and shook in his grasp as the shocks rippled through her and her thoughts abandoned her to the clouds, unable to keep form under the assault.

He fell against her as she stayed supported on his hips, and it was with every effort he had to keep himself mostly resting under his own power and not crush her against the wall as his labored breathing made small ticks of smoke in the air. She wrapped her arms around his middle and kept him held in that loving embrace for quite a while after that, and even though they were outside in the middle of an alley, she still felt like he had just loved her on their marital bed. That was her Renji all right. He may be ineloquent, gruff, slightly clumsy, and one of the biggest fools she had ever known, but he loved her with his entire heart and did everything he could for her, she knew that much.

Ichigo may still have a place in her heart, but Renji had everything she could give.

"You can set me down now," she jibed as strongly as she could, and couldn't deny the moan that was ripped from her when he withdrew from her and relit her nerves. She stumbled to her feet and set her underwear back into place as Renji did his pants back up. She looked over and saw he had his typical cocky grin in place but his eyes were as warm and loving as they always were.

"Dare I ask what brought that on?"

She gave him a smirk of her own and twirled around to start walking out the alley, to which he quickly followed. Unexpectedly she turned her head back to look at him from over her shoulder. "Some things can't be explained I guess."

Now, where to do it next?

………

She was walking silently beside her Partner—more accurately described as husband—and watching in small awe and more than a bit of agitation the hustle and bustle of the stores and marketplaces they were surrounded by. Even on Christmas Day the shopping continued.

It disgusted her.

She remembered what it was like to be human, then what it was like to be a Hollow, then Menos, Adjucha, and finally the long-coveted place as a Vastro-Lorde. She retained much of the same qualities as Neliel, but she respected the primal drives within them and their effect on nature. These humans though were wasting their lives, so busy with shopping and money that they had forgotten what was truly important in life, something even her primal feelings recognized long after her physical death. By some twist of fate she had been granted another chance, and that was why she would never leave the bronze giant at her side, the man with terrible power but a lover's heart.

Love had been a trivial emotion when she was alive, and she found solace in anything that could possibly fill the void left by that essential human feeling. Strength, beauty, money, status, in the end it all came down to a white bone mask and a thirst for souls. She had regained part of her former beauty, but with a defect so crippling she didn't dare lower her collar. That was why she loved her gigai, the fake body that had been completed without any mask or Hollow hole marring her magnificent cocoa flesh. Though she could get back her full beauty by releasing the zanpakutou on her soul-self's back, she liked the humility the collar brought her. The other half of the reason was because very few could be close to her when in that form, for the intense fear she created was enough to make even the bravest hesitant to approach her. Sado though, loved her unconditionally, and to this day she still had a hard time getting over the fact that he preferred her in Arrancar form to that of her gigai.

That was why she would never stop loving him.

He accepted her, _all_ of her, with devotion she failed to see in even her most loyal Fraccion. He may be taller, and around equal standing, if not stronger, than her after all was said and done but that didn't matter. It wasn't that that had drawn her to him, nor was it that he had the same color skin. Race was irrelevant when it came to love, a fact she had failed to see when she was alive. Personally she wouldn't have cared if he had green skin, as long as his personality stayed the same. She was a Hollow that had found the heart to fill her void, and she wasn't going to let that change.

He was aging however, and though he had lost none of his former youth's power, his body was getting closer to death. His soul had long since slowed in aging, mostly because of his break-in to Soul Society to save Rukia with Ichigo—one of the main reasons why Soul Society took intruders so seriously—so his young self remained in his mortal shell, but he had yet to find reason to leave it. She wanted him to get rid of it, or at least do what her King and Queen had done, but so far he hadn't answered her on that one either.

Didn't he know she couldn't bear the sight of him dead, even if it was just his body?

They maneuvered through the crowds and back to his home, something he had yet to give up in the Living World. It was useful when they wanted to get away, or go to the Living World for something or another. After all, their children had physical bodies as well as their souls.

Even if Yoruichi hadn't approached them, they had had something similar to the party planned beforehand too. Their children were the second-oldest next to the Kurosaki's, and they had bodies that matched their ages. Needless to say this had killed much of the time they would have had for intimacy, especially being their children were fully aware of all the workings of the world, marriage included.

The second their door was closed she had pulled the shirt from her body and revealed her braless chest. She longed to be in the clothes of her Espada form, but that would garner too much attention in the Living World, besides the fact that it would be damn cold. Fully nude from the waist up, she was unprepared for her husband's arms to wrap around her from behind and halt any further undressing, though she knew that was just a part of who he was. He took his time with everything, and was gentle and loving in everything he did. She had managed to get him to let loose before, but there was something to be said about his style that fulfilled every part of her in ways only he could.

She relaxed into his large frame as he helped her undo the button to her pants and soon they had slid away, revealing that she really didn't care for underwear either. She wasn't ashamed of her body, and the only place she had been was repaired with the gigai. She longed for him, not just her body, but her soul as well, and she had long since gotten more than wet enough for him even though they hadn't been doing anything. Memories of past times together took care of that rather easily. It wasn't time for her period yet, or the Arrancar equivalent, because otherwise he wouldn't still be standing, nor would he be clothed. His hands wandered to her perfectly formed bust and she promptly forgot everything she had previously been thinking about. He knew all the right places to caress, though nearly anywhere on the generous amount of flesh that made up her bosom was hypersensitive, even in her spiritual form that had Hierro. Steel skin or no, it still had nerves.

She was the perfect definition of the Amazonian warrior: dark bronze skin with stunning blonde hair, and her bright green eyes looked out-of-place on what was supposed to be a soul bent on killing. As hard as they may try to deny it, by gaining the powers of a Shinigami in their broken-mask state, emotions became a much larger part of who they were. She didn't like to fight her instincts, she had learned long ago that gut impulses tend to be right, but now the only instinct rushing through her was from her _heart_.

"Yasutora…" the words escaped her lips like a low breeze that glided through his eardrums and set his blood on fire, smashing against his usual calmness with pure _want._ Her next words shattered that completely. "…_now_…"

She didn't know when he moved or how it was even possible, but the next thing she knew she was leaning against an entirely nude muscular body. He may be getting old, but that didn't mean he had lost any of his former prowess.

He sat down on their bed and she followed suit, content with being held in his arms as she positioned the large erection sticking through her spread legs at her opening. He was proportional to his body, and that was frightening enough in itself, but she wasn't that small of a woman herself and regardless, she loved every bit of it. She sunk down onto him and his arms tightened around her waist from the sudden shock of penetration. She made no such effort to keep herself quiet, she let loose a long moan that reverberated deep from the bottom of her throat and she trembled when she felt the powerful muscles behind her shiver in response. Her back was molded to his chest and his hands were in perfect position to massage her breasts, which is exactly what they did.

From the position he was inside her so deep she though he was going to hit her stomach, even though she knew it was anatomically impossible. She could hardly breathe from the amount of sensation rushing though her, and she had yet to even move. Even after all their time together, he never ceased to amaze her. She was sure the feeling was mutual.

Indeed, the feeling was mutual, because Yasutora Sado found himself restraining every carnal desire in him with great force from plunging up into her without any force withheld, which even though he knew she would want eventually, there was always time needed to adjust to his size. She fought regularly, and _all_ her muscles were kept in prime condition, even though some of them had no other application other than the current situation, not that he minded naturally.

Or cared, for that matter; it felt too good to care.

Then she started moving, gyrating her hips into his lap and forcing their sexes into friction, which of course shut down any higher brain functions the two might have had left when their bodies registered the intense pleasure in caused. Almost simultaneously the atmosphere of the room changed and it became a crazed race for completion: hard, heavy, and passionate completion. Even as she thrust herself down he brought himself upward, and they continually met with the sounds of wet flesh hitting each other flying through the room.

Her mouth was so wet it was dry, or so dry it was wet; whatever it was she couldn't describe it, she had never been able to. Her body felt like it had rejected her control and she never even bothered to take a second glance at who might have taken it away. Too much was going through her brain; too much was sending her muscles into spasms and forcing her breaths out in labored pants that echoed erotically in the small room. She was being stretched, filled, emptied, and completed all in a matter of seconds and the cycle continued what seemed like endlessly.

One of his large hands trailed down her slick flesh, away from her breast, and started to gently tease the tip of her slit and the golden hair located there. Her gasps because even louder exclamations and pleas of his name as he rolled the nub of flesh he had been looking for between his powerful fingers, which caused the body rocking on his to go absolutely insane. She jolted every which way which only made things worse seeing as he was still embedded deeply inside her, and that set off even more nerves that in turn caused her muscles to tremble and jolt her another way. She didn't know if she was in Hell or in Heaven, but she couldn't care less as long as it _didn't stop_.

"Good! So…_good_…!!!"

Finally it got to the point where she could take no more, and she stiffened against him while her inner muscles did the same and she climaxed violently over their joined hips. If Yasutora had had any restraint left by that point there was now nothing left, and with a few more numbing thrusts he too surrendered to the cataclysmic waves of orgasm.

After the second-long eternity was over she slumped against him, and it felt like all of her bones had just melted, just as it did every other time. She would never tire of the feeling. She glanced over at the mirror on the door, the one that she had been looking at the entire time as they made love, and smiled to herself.

"That was beautiful."

After all, she was a person who appreciated beauty. _Strength_ and beauty.

………

Christmas Day was not only a time to show love, but as it turned out it seemed to be a time to relax and enjoy life too. What better way to enjoy life than by putting it on the line in an absolutely pointless bout of overactive testosterone?

Joy to the world indeed.

Currently Karin was trying her best to land a hit on her brother, something that had not gotten any easier be she ten years old or a thousand. Even if it _was_ just a sparring match, the black-haired beauty that used to be the epitome of a tomboy had already released her zanpakutou, and now a ball blazing with spiritual energy was flying repeatedly at the head of the orange-hared King and Captain.

Ichigo took it in stride, and was using Zangetsu in easy strokes to smash the ball back at his sister. He hadn't gone into Bankai, but that would have been too much for a simple sparring match, not to mention that his little sister had yet to obtain the Ban release, so it would have been an unfair advantage. Even though he was giving her that courtesy, he had way too many advantages even without that, so it goes without saying that he was having little trouble keeping the attacks of the little terror that was his sister at bay.

His form-fitting shihakushou had yet to show any damage from the battle, but that wasn't to say that he wasn't sweating. Be he more experienced or not, the amount of power Karin was able to put into her strikes was surprising, that and the fact that her zanpakutou could be controlled mid-flight, unlike a regular soccer ball as had been the case before. If not for the intense spiritual energy constantly surrounding the orb as it came to attack him he might have considered using his hands to end the match, as he had easily destroyed a zanpakutou similar to hers with his bare hands when he had went to save Rukia all those years ago.

Be that as it may, at the moment he was too busy dodging the repeated strikes that came from all angles, one after another as the ball flew by his head only to be punting back by Karin's ingenious use of Shunpo. She was faster than her own zanpakutou, which might not have been saying much had the speed of the zanpakutou been anything to scoff at. Sadly, it wasn't.

Skill in Shunpo ran in the family after all.

It was only thanks to his even more impressive skill in the movement art that he was able to avoid all the strikes, and Karin's anger grew more and more with every shot that was missed.

Finally, after maybe too much time letting Karin's anger grow, Ichigo decided it was best to end the match before it stopped becoming a match and instead became a brawl. Before her eyes could even adjust to his movement he had vanished from her sight and though she tried to run just to be safe, soon the otherworldly sharpness of Zangetsu was pressed against her throat from behind.

"I think that's enough for now," he said as he smirked mirthfully, and after a few seconds of scowling at being beaten so easily, Karin eventually sighed dramatically and sheathed her zanpakutou.

"It's just not fair! I'm gonna get you one of these days!" she promised with her usual determination.

This time it was Ichigo's turn to sigh. "Yeah, and when you do I'll get to have the wonderful experience of a freaking giant bruise somewhere on my body. I've seen what that thing can do dammit, I don't want to get hit by it anymore than any Hollow would!"

Karin smiled brightly and he knew he had at least managed to salvage her pride. There was a good deal of it after all. The thing was he wasn't joking, it was damn scary how powerful his sister was, _both_ of them. Yuzu had opted out of the sparring though. She may be very strong, but she didn't like to use her power outside of when it was actually needed.

"Who wants to go next?"

Kaien stood up and brushed off his jeans nonchalantly. "Watching's not really my strong point. Who wants to go a round?" He didn't know of the conversation beforehand, so he was surprised that before Kin or Asuka could even stand up a voice called out from behind him.

"I would, if you don't mind."

Something deep in Kaien's soul trembled at the voice and even though he could face legions of Hollows by himself, that something caused a shiver to run down his spine. He recognized it instinctively, something deep within him, the memories of a life gone by, remembered that voice even if he had only heard it a few times himself. "C-Captain…Ukitake." He turned around to look at the white-haired captain, and sure enough he was there, smiling as benevolently as he always did.

"So? What do you say?"

Kaien was about to reply, but before he could something happening in his own body alerted him. He looked down on his hands and found that even though he was doing nothing, and he himself felt no fear, his hands were trembling like he was standing before an opponent even his father couldn't beat. Jyushiro too took notice of this, and one of his dark eyebrows raised confusedly.

"S-Sure." _Why am I stuttering?_ He couldn't get over it, he knew deep down inside that the man in front of him had over two thousand years of experience as a Shinigami and God only knows how many of those were as a captain. He was eighteen years old, nearly nineteen, and could be counted with an extra couple hundred years if his other life applied before he was born like this, but the man in front of him had imbued a fearful respect so far into his previous life he was trembling even now as Kaien Kurosaki. His blood, tempered and quiet thanks to Kin, rose up in challenge against this fear and his pride took center stage as he stared down the kind man doing nothing of the sort to look menacing. "Let's get this started." With that said he slammed his hand against his body and the now soulless husk fell to the ground as the Espada-like spiritual form stood in its place, the blue-hilted zanpakutou now sheathed at his side. It was the first time he had changed since gaining her back into himself.

Jyushiro Ukitake was taken slightly aback at the hard tone of the teenager, miles apart from the stutter of moments earlier. Even more so however, when he noticed another polar change had happened, and now though Kaien was standing in front of him in his spiritual form, there were tears falling from his eyes and he was clutching the middle of his chest like he had just been shot.

"What's wrong!?" nearly everyone around him shouted instantaneously.

Slowly, very, _very_ slowly, Kaien's breathing evened out and he raised his head to look at the false sky with absolute glee and pure relief flooding his tear-streaked eyes. "It's gone." It was said so softly it could hardly be heard.

His father was the one to step forward now. "What's gone?"

He didn't answer right away, instead he turned to Kin with bright yellow eyes so full of adoration she nearly forgot they were still surrounded by people. "_It_. _It's_ gone. I'm…whole again."

It took a short while for what he was saying to be comprehended in even the genius woman's head, so rather than trying to explain it, Kaien merely took off his white jacket. More than a few eyes instantly widened upon witnessing the mass of claw-like marks that riddled his entire back, but that was when the enormity of what they were seeing finally sunk in.

He had an entire back _to_ be riddled with marks; his Hollow hole had vanished

Leaving the question as to how his back came into the state it was for another time—far, _far_, away—they simply stood speechless at the impossibility that had just been revealed to them. Yoruichi on the other hand turned redder than the deepest imaginable red, not because of anger, but because she had just been shown without a shadow of a doubt that some things actually _were_ hereditary. Kisuke, all-knowing and ever-calm, biased to none, was biting his tongue else he reprimand his daughter, but the fact was he knew he would sound like a hypocrite if he did. He and Yoruichi had known each other for centuries, and their own experimentation had been going on long before they had ever thought of living together or spending the rest of their lives together. So, as hard as it was for the protective father, he held back his tongue and stayed silent beside his now florescent lover. He knew better than anyone that his own daughter had more of a right to give herself to her fiancé than he had had to first make love to the purple-haired beauty currently standing beside him. They were _engaged_ after all, and he knew with the blood Kaien had within him—and he was thinking about both the Hollow aspect _and_ the Kurosaki genes—that there would be no one more devoted to his daughter than him.

On the other hand, Asuka was positively beside herself with both shock and glee when she saw her former crush's back. Now she _had_ to get details from Kin, there was no way those could have been made from an unskilled partner. She had always fantasized about how Kaien would be in the bedroom, and now she had an inside source. Once upon a time it would have saddened her to know that she was not going to be the one gaining that information firsthand, but life gave her an unexpected, but not unwelcome prize instead. She was perfectly content, but curiosity and cats go way back, so she wasn't able to quell that thirst just yet.

But Kin, she alone knew that her gift had been received. He had left his heart with her, and now after years apart she had wholly given herself back to him, a sign shown all too truly on his body. Even though she was fighting off a blush at seeing the marks she had left on his chest and back again, she felt more pride than anything else, and from his eyes she felt like she could rule the world.

Satisfied he had let everyone see what he meant, and having fought off the urge to instantly cover himself when he realized what he had just shown off other than what he had wanted to, Kaien shrugged his jacket back on but didn't bother doing it back up. With a simple glance over his shoulder to the man who had challenged him he jumped off the cliff all the spectators had been sitting on and down to the ground below, to which he was followed by his newfound opponent and former superior officer.

Jyushiro's zanpakutou was one of two twin zanpakutous of Soul Society, but unless released they were concealed under the guise of just one. Knowing that thanks to his experience it wouldn't matter whether he fought with one or two blades, Kaien decided to let him go all out.

"You know I'm not going to fight you unless you release your zanpakutou, right?" he asked while fighting down the innate fear still bubbling inside him. Even for all his pride, this fear told him he wasn't going to win, there was just too much difference between their levels and experience, but his Hollow blood responded ferociously with its own need of victory. The tug-of-war in his soul had began anew once again, but this time it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been, like he could feel crisp water washing his blood into a low simmer rather than an angry fire. His eyes suddenly widened and he looked down on the sword now at his side. _You're helping me, aren't you? Just like you said you would._

He wasn't expected a response to his thoughts, but a watery chuckle emanated deep from the core of his fused soul. _"Do you take me to be a liar? I would hope not. Rest easy, you may not have much chance of winning this match, but that is not the point of sparring. Sparring is meant for improvement, a duel is meant for winning."_ Her voice was the same as always, and it spread through him like the water she controlled.

_I'm going to need it. Ever since that promise I haven't been able to practice with you, I'm going on practically nothing here!_

Another soft, echoed chuckle. _"You were, and are again, my partner. You will remember soon enough."_

He rolled his eyes, oblivious to the fact that only he and a select few others could hear their conversation. _Thanks for the encouragement._

Jyushiro had sensed something going on in the teen, and had postponed his answer, but when it seemed like his attention was back on him again, the captain drew his sword and took his stance. "Every Wave Be My Shield, Every Thunder Become My Blade: Sougyo no Kotowari." And with those ominous words spoken, the sword split into its true dual nature and changed into the oddly-shaped swords with the line of gold charms dangling between them.

Kaien's heart beat against his chest with the overwhelming sound of a bass drum as he took in the sight that he was both seeing for the first time, and remembering at the same time. The stance, the swords, the spiritual pressure in the air, he knew against someone like this any kind of rookie would be made into red mist within moments if he so desired. He had spent a lot of time training, and he only hoped it was enough to stand at least on par with the experienced Shinigami. He _could_ only hope. He did have his zanpakutous too, but he didn't want to put more of a strain on his body, the body that was currently running on fuel that it shouldn't have. Once that was gone, he was going to be sleeping for a while. A long while.

Then the white-haired opponent rushed him, and Kaien briefly wondered to what nth degree he was about to be screwed. _Shut up! Not helping!! Concentrate!_ His father was inhuman when it came to speed, and so he used the few nanoseconds he had before he had to draw his sword to compress his reiatsu even harder inside himself. He took the hidden reiatsu and compressed it, hardened it even further into his Hierro so he would have the most defenses he could possibly have against the strikes that might land on him. He knew it wasn't going to be just a few. With his last remaining bit of time Kaien sighed in relief, knowing his skin was as hard as he thought he needed it. This assumption proved correct when, since he didn't have enough time to draw Nejibana, he simply raised his arms to block the two blades and they stopped short against his skin.

Ukitake looked shocked at the turn of events and Kaien's sudden smirk at the realization that he could stop the blades even without his sword. Too often had he had to fight barehanded against foes with swords because of his crippling side-effect but no more, and he wasn't going to let his first chance go to waste. Without any more hesitation Kaien threw his arms to the side, thus throwing the man still standing strong against him away, and drew Nejibana. The sword hummed in his grip, like it loved the attention of being back in his hands, and Kaien allowed himself as small smile before he ran at his foe.

After millennia of experience, Jyushiro was not one to be surprised by much for too long, and so the blades met in a dance that had been going on ever since disagreement had first been kindled in humanity. He _was_ actually surprised by the strength behind Kaien's blows however, not even his former lieutenant had had that much strength, but this person had his memories, but he wasn't him. He had to keep reminding himself of that.

Two blades against one may seem like an unfair advantage, but Kaien managed to hold his ground well against the impressed Shinigami. Were this an actual battle, Jyushiro would have not held back, but since it wasn't and this level of fighting wasn't too far from his real skill he had no problem keeping it up without disappointment. Again, Kaien's blade swung down against him and he caught it between his two blades and their second, hooked blades on them, trapping the zanpakutou between his two. Kaien grunted as he tried to free his sword but to no avail, and finally Ukitake sent a charge of electricity through his swords and numbed Kaien's grip enough to wrestle the blade away and throw it to the side, rendering the oldest Kurosaki child weaponless.

Kaien shook his hand out as the residual electricity sparked from his hand. He darted his eyes over to where Nejibana was stuck into the ground, off to the captain's side. "You're pretty good Kaien, but you still have a ways to go."

His eyes narrowed at the compliment he took as an insult and with the combined might of Sonido and Shunpo Jyushiro Ukitake barely had the time to whip his head over to where the sword had now been picked up, let alone raise his blades in time to block the next strike. However, that wasn't what happened, instead Kaien jumped into the air and launched himself down at his enemy. His vision blurred as memories assaulted him, guided him, and raised his hand to his side with his partner at the ready almost against his will. With words that didn't seem like his own he shouted, "Rankle the Seas and the Skies, Nejibana!"

With a twirl of his hand the blade elongated and warped, until when stopped the crystalline trident with blue tassel was held solidly in his hand.

Jyushiro had thought he had separated his ex-lieutenant from the man falling towards him, but with that weapon in hand and the astonishing likeness, former feelings and surprise in general halted his reaction time. By the time he came back to himself the trident's blades were mere seconds away from his head and his first instinctive reaction was to block the attack with his blades. He had forgotten about the zanpakutou's particular ability however, and thus thanks only to his skill was he able to jump away from the young man before the crashing water fell and destroyed the land he had previously been standing on.

Kaien stared down in wonder at the weapon in his hands when he landed. He had only held her a few times before now but it had never felt so right. Right then it did, it felt like part of him had returned and now he could fight at full strength. The memories didn't stop, they kept coming, guiding his movements and inputting the complex technique with which to wield her directly into his mind.

Jyushiro didn't know what to make of the dazed expression on Kaien's face, but he did know he had to parry when the body came at him, using moves he knew all too well. Nejibana spun in practiced motions that had even the dual-bladed captain struggling to keep up and defend. Were it not for those two blades it would have been nigh impossible to come out unscathed, though even _with_ them he had to move constantly otherwise the intense rush of water would crush him. Lakes were forming all over the battleground as the strikes continued, and with a long array of spins above his head Kaien brought the blade down once more, rocking the area with an explosion of dust when Ukitake remained in place and blocked the attack.

When the smoke cleared, Nejibana was struggling against a wall of water, and Ukitake was unharmed.

Again, Kaien's memory flashed back. He knew this, this was part of his captain's—no, Kaien _Shiba's_ captain's—zanpakutou. He could have done this all along. All the sudden lightning surged forward and forced Kaien on the defensive as he dodged the bolts only to find the captain right behind them, and now it was knee-jerk reactions to the two quickly moving swords to keep himself safe.

The white-haired captain was smiling inwardly. The Kaien he was fighting now may be hundreds of years younger than his former lieutenant, but he was stronger, and dare he think it, even more advanced than him. He wasn't using his full strength, but he knew Kaien wasn't either, though with the new strength that had been kindled within him to help fight off his old disease, there would be no contest unless the young man defending against him used his other zanpakutous. _I wonder how he'll do against this… _With that thought, the captain dropped down and brought his swords up on either side of Kaien's arms, _under_ the pole of the zanpakutou.

Kaien knew he was screwed, but he thought he had a strong enough barrier between himself and those blades to make the attack ineffectual. He hadn't taken into account the elemental abilities that hadn't been used before, nor had he considered the extra strength Jyushiro was now using to test him.

Thus, his eyes widened impossibly wide when each blade dug into the flesh of both his arms.

Pain took on a new definition for Kaien Kurosaki.

Everyone could only watch, seemingly in slow motion, as Nejibana fell from Kaien's hands, onto the ground with a resounding _thump_ as sweat broke out on his skin so quickly it could barely be comprehended. His mouth moved but no words came out, then as the blood started to run down his arms Kaien threw his head back and screamed.

He didn't just scream, he screamed like he had just had his limbs torn from his body while he was forced to stay conscious. His deep bass voice went from what it was to a shrill falsetto and the abject _agony_ relayed through the scream had everyone clutching their ears. Kaien fell to the ground as his hands clasped to his head and he thrashed about in the greatest seizure he had ever had brought on by his ability. This wasn't just one spirit to copy, this was _two_, and his body felt like it was tearing itself apart.

Ukitake could only watch as blood started leaking from Kaien's eyelids and suddenly Ichigo was right beside him, pushing him away. "Shit! It's his Hollow!!! Everyone get out of here, he's losing control!!"

The black tattoos under his eyes were starting to disappear, replaced instead by ones resembling orange flames that went all the way around his eyes as his skin darkened in sporadic shifts to a dull grey. This was too familiar, way too familiar to the captain, and he found that he couldn't move his feet as he watched the young man degenerate and thrash as his screams became louder.

Then, to everyone's surprise, the body in front of them started flickering from sight. Right before their eyes the body flickered from Kaien, to a woman with startling blue hair and wearing a soft white-blue dress. Kin's gasp almost went unheard. "Nejibana."

She too was clutching her head in pain, and her face was scrunched up into the most unimaginable expression of pure torment. Their bodies would flicker back and forth, and finally her head managed to look over at the two captains standing before her. _"P-Please…Ca-Captain!! I-I ca-ant hold h-him m-m-much longer!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"_ With her pain-filled cry she once again flickered back and revealed Kaien, and though the pain from copying the zanpakutous was almost over, the ability to fight off the Hollow that had bubbled up to protect his life—which was it's life—was practically gone.

He couldn't think, couldn't speak, he could only scream. Pain lit every nerve and it felt like his soul was trying to split into two separate beings. Of course that was impossible, but he had never imagined that absorbing twin zanpakutous—or maybe just two zanpakutous at the same time, he had never tried—would tax his body so much. He could feel his consciousness fading, and the frightening thing was he didn't know if that was because of the pain or if his blood was rising to the surface. As of then he had no way to fight it down were it the latter. He couldn't even feel his body, the pain was just too numbing, and so just as he was about to surrender to whatever awaited him, a soft melody caught his ringing ears.

It was soft, gentle, as melodic as a piano's hymn and as comforting as an angel's voice. It was something he had known for as long as he could remember until he couldn't even remember anymore: the soft hum and beautiful voice of his mother's lullaby. He couldn't make out any of the words, but even the tune was enough to make him forget the pain, the suffering, and soon he felt his consciousness fading for a different reason; the blood had been set at bay once again.

And darkness was all he saw.

………

**Author's Notes:** Another update!? So soon!? Why? Because I can, that's why! LOL! More reviews would be appreciated, but hey, that's just a request. As for Jyushiro's zanpakutous, I know recently there have been new developments in its powers, but according to the Bleach games it does have water and lightning powers as well. If it suddenly doesn't in the manga, Tite Kubo would have managed yet again to screw over all sense of continuity in his creation. Anyways, that's that for that, LOL!

Since this hasn't happened lately I thought I'd try it again. Ten reviews and you all get the next chapter immediately!

Thank you everyone who continues to review, and I hope even those who don't, at least you enjoy the story. That's the whole reason I write, other than I enjoy it myself, duh, LOL!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	17. Shaking Throne

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Well, what'dya know? Yes, there will be lemon here again, somewhere. For those questioning the amount of citrus in this story, it was originally written for AFF(dot)net, not this counterpart of which I was unaware of at the time. Because of this, you might have noticed all the lemons are interwoven into the plot. That would be the reason why. (And the world just needs more Tatsuki, LOL!!)**

…

**[No] Shaking Throne**

…

_Just as he was about to surrender to whatever awaited him, a soft melody caught his ringing ears. It was soft, gentle, as melodic as a piano's hymn and as comforting as an angel's voice. It was something he had known for as long as he could remember until he couldn't even remember anymore: the soft hum and beautiful voice of his mother's lullaby. He couldn't make out any of the words, but even the tune was enough to make him forget the pain, the suffering, and soon he felt his consciousness fading for a different reason; the blood had been set at bay once again._

_And darkness was all he saw._

…

Silence reigned over every single person that had gathered in the expanse around the sparring grounds, even those that had come in response to the blood-curdling screams of agony; all except one woman, singing her song, trying desperately to lull the awakened beast back into slumber. None dared speak as they looked at the body lying on the ground, unmoving in the chorus around it after the unimaginable pain had passed. The grey skin, nearly green in its countenance, had yet to revert on the young body, and the sweat trickling down Ichigo's neck had even Captain Ukitake standing still as stone in the oldest kind of cautionary action that could be taken.

Blood still seeped from the wounds in his arms, nearly an inch deep in either forearm, and the same could be said about his eyes, as the tears of blood still flowed even though they were shut. The usual healing process after the first cut wasn't taking place, and Jyushiro could only wonder why. He knew this form, and it had been the one thing he had never wanted to see again. What he was looking at was almost a spitting image of Kaien Shiba's possession by Metastacia. "Ich—"

Ichigo's eyes shot over to him so quickly his words stopped dead in his throat. "Shh!" The orange-haired captain whispered harshly. "Step back, slowly. Don't make any sudden movements, and don't speak any louder than necessary. Right now he's in a very fragile state, so we need to get everyone out of here as soon as possible. He's calm, for now, but it would only take a small push to set him off again."

Sadly, there were still other people present that had not been informed of this sensitive material. "KAIEN!!" Kin shouted in worry as she jumped to her feet. Tatsuki's and Ichigo's eyes barely had time to widen in horror before black threads struck out with deadly accuracy at the source of the noise.

Kin Urahara-Shihouin, heir to the dwindling Shihouin dynasty and future wife of the Prince of Hueco Mundo, could hardly believe her eyes as she watched Kaien's sickly-looking arm whip towards her, before black tentacle-like threads shot from the wound in it even though his eyes had yet to open. Her legs had frozen in place and she flinched into a defensive position as she awaited the impact.

Only to have nothing greet her.

She opened her eyes slowly to see Orihime Ishida standing protectively in front of her with the familiar orange triangle shielding them from any attack, the black threads stopped like spear's points against the godly shield.

"I don't think so," the normally exuberant woman said darkly.

"GET OUT OF THERE ORIHIME!!!!"

Practically no one could believe that the shrill screech had just come from Ichigo Kurosaki, but then they witnessed the other arm shoot over and another line of spears was shot. Right before impact the points from both arms softened, and like living creatures they split and snaked around the outside of her barrier, right at the voluptuous woman behind. Orihime didn't even have the time to scream before the tendrils had—quite unexpectedly—missed her altogether and instead firmly grabbed the hairpins still situated right above her ears. She yelped and fell to the ground as they were pulled from her head and consequently the barrier was dispelled instantly.

Everyone expected the unknown ability that Kaien's body was displaying to be immediately set back to work slicing the bodies of those it aimed at, but none of them had been expecting the tendrils to retract into their host's body and stab the hairpins into the already open wounds, one hairpin for each arm.

The reiatsu that suddenly crashed into the area could only be described as _demonic_.

The residents of Hueco Mundo, those that knew Kaien's power personally, could only watch in terror as the body once again went into convulsions as black energy coursed off the spiritual form of Kaien Kurosaki. The screams came from a voice ravaged by overuse and the transformation into an echoed, darker counterpart that showed all too well how far his Hollowization had progressed. Were it not his even stronger, more Hollow body Kaien would not have been able to take the absorption of so many spirits at once, but even like this he still felt pain, and it was far worse than Sougyo no Kotowari.

If the twisted smile on the Hollow's face was anything to go by however, there had been intent behind the actions—primitive intent, but intent nonetheless. It had sensed her power, power it didn't have, and decided to take it for itself. The children especially were forced to the ground under the reiatsu powerful enough to make a Vastro-Lorde quiver, even as they all tried to shield their ears from the pain-soaked cries, gradually mixing with raucous laughter. Everyone watched, for minutes that stretched on into a short eternity, as one by one a line of scar tissue was drawn away from the wound already incurred by Ukitake. When it was done the six-bladed snowflake pin had been drawn on each arm, the captain's long cut running right through the middle.

As the hairpins were spit away by the versatile threads and the reiatsu slowly simmered to a calmer yet still outrageous state, they watched the body begin to rise. Tsukiyomi didn't know how much more she could take, as just like her in her transformed state, Kaien too had the power to make the other self rise if the power applied to that person. Since she was so used to it however, she was able to fight much harder against it than he could, but any longer and she knew even _she_ was doomed.

"Souten Kishun, I Reject!!"

After what they had all just witnessed, they had expected a different exclamation to come from his mouth, but to their surprise it hadn't even been him to shout the healing chant to release the incredible powers of the phenomenon-rejecting fairies. Just as the grey-green body was almost to its feet a shining blue oval shield surrounded him, pinning him back to the ground as the tentacles fought vigorously against it to no avail. Tsukiyomi almost cried in relief.

Every set of eyes turned to a boy equally pinned on the ground, straining his head up to see through bangs of orange hair as he forced his hand towards the shielded Kurosaki child. His thin glasses had fallen off to the side, but his midnight blue eyes stayed locked with perfect clarity on his target as he single-handedly held off the bestial body. This wasn't as easy as it might sound, seeing that the form had gained back movement despite, or possibly because, of the pain it had been going through moments earlier. It was fighting the blue oval with everything it had, but in the end all the reiatsu it was raving about only served to seal its doom.

"Sora!" Orihime cried worriedly.

Sora grit his teeth and tensed his arm more. "J-Just…a little…more!! I…can use his power…against him!! I'll…revert him back!!!"

They looked back at Kaien and saw the wounds that had yet to heal from Ukitake gradually close as the scar tissue—something that not even the Souten Kishun could Reject—replaced it. The tendrils were forced back into the body as his skin slowly went back to normal, and the eye tattoos faded back to reveal the ones just like Grimmjow's. The reiatsu in the air seemed to scream in protest but the intense power only proved to make Sora's healing barrier more effective as he channeled the reiatsu into it. It may have been unnecessary to augment the godlike power, but it halted any further assault nonetheless. Eventually the spiritual power too was squelched and forced back into control as slow, steady breathing replaced everything. Kaien had once again fallen asleep, this time as himself.

Sora slumped to the ground, exhausted after fighting against the tremendous reiatsu and the attacks from within his blue shield. He rubbed his sore hands as his powers returned to him and went back to rings on his fingers, and was surprised when his father suddenly appeared beside him and helped him to sit up while he handed him his lost glasses.

"Great job, Sora," Uryuu praised softly, and his mother's nature showed up instantaneously in the fourteen-year-old's wide grin of accomplishment.

Much to Uryuu's dismay, Sora had chosen to style his hair much like his eternal rival, Ichigo Kurosaki, but the usual Ishida style didn't suit orange hair, as even he would admit, and so he really couldn't complain. He had his mother's straight hair, but with a little styling he had managed to spike it backwards, all but the few unruly strands that dangled down over his face.

Unlike Orihime, his powers had manifested in the rings he wore, and his Santen Kesshun was located on the pinky, ring, and middle fingers of his left hand while the Souten Kishun took up the index finger and thumb. Tsubaki's little carbon copy, the Kouten Zanshun, was located ever so opportunely on his right hand's middle finger. It suited the pint-sized hellion nicely. The blue coloration of the shields was in direct correlation with his heritage as a Quincy, but consequently he had no ability to make the trademark bow or other spiritron-based weapons of the priestly archers; all but the Silver Tubes, which were weaker but still useful. A shadow fell over the two family members, and they both looked up to see Ichigo looking down at them with relief clear in his eyes.

He squatted down to the young man's level, and Uryuu almost found it disturbing to be reminded how much his son looked like his friend. "That was a very brave thing you did. Thank you very much, Sora." And with a pat on the shoulder, the King of Hueco Mundo rose to give Orihime her hairpins back.

Needless to say, Sora Ishida was practically beaming with pride.

Conversely, Kin, she was on her knees clutching her arms to her sides as she trembled like a baby bird bereft of feathers. Now she knew, now she knew all too acutely what Asuka had been trying to convey before. She was confident in her own strength, maybe even overconfident, but the intense _fear_ she had felt when her own fiancé's dark reiatsu had pushed down on her was enough to make even _her_ sweat. This was only the second time in five years she had ever felt Kaien's reiatsu, but it was the very first time she had ever seen its color. She realized just what he was fighting against, and just how much power was being forced into the frame she now thought much too small for such an enormous power. What was even worse was she knew he hadn't even fully awakened, as the lullaby had calmed the initial transformation into a state in between Kaien and complete Hollowization.

She flinched terribly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and twisted over to see Asuka knelt beside her with no contempt burning in her eyes, for once. The blue-haired hybrid simply looked at her with understanding in her soft blue eyes and she hugged her shivering friend. She didn't say anything, she didn't need to.

She knew, now her friend finally understood.

Kin simply clasped to Asuka's lithe frame and cried.

………

The living room was almost deathly quiet, all but the few remaining sniffles of the younger ones that had been caught up in Kaien's reiatsu. Everyone who wasn't out on the town was assembled in the living room with the noticeable exception of Kaien, and needless to say those without parents there were clinging to the oldest family member left. Even Kin, engaged and almost nineteen, was sitting with her parents.

"So…what's the plan, Kurosaki?" Uryuu asked to break the silence.

Ichigo sighed and let his head fall into his hands. "I don't know. We had planned to go to Soul Society to fix everything tomorrow but that plan _did_ include my entire family. I don't know how long it'll take him to wake up now; he hasn't lost control in so long I'm not even sure of his abilities in that form anymore."

Sora coughed to gather everyone's attention and instinctively adjusted his glasses just out of habit. "When I was healing him I noticed that his body was running on practically nothing, and to be absolutely honest I'm not even sure he should have been awake. I saw him eat this morning and I noticed the energy from it, but there should have been much more considering how much he ate. It was like something had forced his body to stay conscious, because the only thing I can think of that would justify his deficiency would be a lack of sleep. I restored his body's balance to normal, so after a good rest he should be ready to go. At my _worst_ estimate he should be good by tomorrow." He watched as more than a few of the adult faces around him gradually went red as imaginations were ignited, but he ignored it.

Even Ichigo had turned his fair share of red. "W-Well, that solves that I guess. The date'll stay the same then."

There were doubts written in every child's eyes, Tatsuki could sense it. Her unique reiatsu detecting abilities put her in tune to every potential flux, and years of training had honed that to be able to discern nearly every possible reason for them. Being that she was a parent herself, she knew she had to keep her temper under control, but at the moment she wanted to scream at them all. With a long exhalation that had all attention on her, she looked up from under her long bangs and nearly froze everyone with her glare. "Now, you all understand what just happened, right? In _four years_ that's been the first time he's ever lost control enough to change that far. He's as much a Shinigami as any of you, so he belongs in Soul Society just as much as you do." The entire lecture was said through grit teeth, and it was directed pointedly at the children—more specifically even: the academy students—of the group.

All the adults knew exactly what she was talking about, and they made mental notes to go over everything in more detail later. After all, their children hadn't been alive when Ichigo had risked everything to protect, in all accuracy, the world's safety. Therefore they were bound to not have the same level of respect that they should have, even if the white jacket gave them more than enough reason to. It was only natural, especially after their own visits to Hueco Mundo over their five-year hiatus, that that same respect should be given to his children, to a lesser degree naturally.

The topic of thought laughed and put a hand through his ragged orange hair. "Well, I guess that killed quite a bit of fun for the day, ne? Kaien's in bed now so you kids can go back down and play if you want." Given the opportunity, and not liking to stay in any one place for too long anyway, every child was out of the room in a second. Ichigo sighed again as he reset his gaze on the adults left. "I know keeping everyone occupied will be harder now that this' happened, so I don't mind if you guys go home early. Don't feel obligated." It apparently didn't matter to him that three sets of parents weren't even there to hear that.

Urahara gave a laugh and adjusted his hat for no reason whatsoever. "Honestly Kurosaki-san, you can't expect us to leave just because of that did you? Most of us haven't seen you and your family in years, I'm sure we can find a l~~~~ot of things to keep ourselves occupied. We haven't done much talking by the way, as an example."

"Indeed," another voice interjected, drawing the attention away yet again, this time to Byakuya, "that transformation was quite tame compared to your first, and he is not a weak child anymore. Soul Society classified your family's' records for a reason. There is no need for such trivial fuss."

Even though everyone else smiled and nodded in agreement, Masaki was practically glowing with adoration for her teacher, though no one took too much notice except Ikki and Tsukiyomi. None of them mentioned that 'tame' would be the last word ever used to describe Kaien's transformation should he have been able to move. The transformation that time had indeed been rather tame, as it had sought out Orihime's power with single-minded purpose once it was exposed to it. What would have happened later though, would have made the nobleman rethink his evaluation. The word _bloodbath_ came to mind, and even the ever-cool Tsukiyomi felt a chill run down her icy spine.

With that authoritative statement it was like any tension that had been in the room evaporated and everyone was able to relax. One by one conversations were started and soon nearly everyone was engaged in some form of communication, and if not they were listening to the conversation with the most participants. Kin, she carefully approached one of the listeners, Orihime Ishida, and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

Orihime turned around to face her with her normal smile gracing her lovely face. "What's up?" she asked cheerfully. Leave it to Orihime to be so happy and friendly after coming close to death or dismemberment just a little earlier.

Kin resisted the urge to shuffle her feet in embarrassment. "C-Can I talk to you? _Away_ from everyone else?" she whispered quietly, unknowing of the way Asuka's ears perked up curiously.

Despite the confusion in her eyes, Orihime nodded with yet another smile. "No problem." The two then left the room, one making sure no one followed to the other's confusion. A spare bedroom was found and the orange haired beauty sat down on the bed against the nearest wall. "So? What's up? She asked again in a cheery squeal as she bounced lightly on the bed.

She may be getting older, but she was still Orihime alright.

The older woman noticed with fascination the way the chocolate-skinned teen turned a bright shade of red. "U-Um, I was wondering…could you heal me?"

Instantly Orihime's eyes clouded with worry. "Did he get you? I thought I stopped him in time but he could have—"

"No, No!" Kin quickly clarified. "It's just…I know I have the same…uh…d-deficiency…that Sora mentioned, so I was wondering if you could get rid of it like he did."

Orihime cocked her head to the side and pushed a fingertip into her lips in one of the most endearing motions of confusion Kin had ever seen on a woman her age. "Huh? Why would you have it too?"

The Shihouin heir resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Another part of Orihime hadn't changed either. _Do I have to spell it out for her!?_ "Well…you see…"

"Oh I know it was Christmas Eve and everything but…OH! Were you up waiting for Santa Claus!?" she interrupted excitedly.

This time Kin _did_ roll her eyes. "NO!" Upon realizing there was no way out of it, Kin turned twenty different shades of red as the oblivious Orihime watched. She leaned over and whispered into the woman's ear what she couldn't bring herself to say at regular volume.

Orihime's face promptly matched Kin's in a healthy red glow. "_Really!?_ Oh… wow!!"

And just like that the sliding door opened and shut like a bullet and Asuka had jumped right into the middle of the room. "AH HA! I knew it!" she boasted triumphantly, gleefully taking in Kin's look of absolute horror. "The nose knows, ya know?" And as her grin widened as she tapped the aforementioned device on her face, so did the degree of color on Kin's face.

"Soooo, how was he?"

Kin's head moved like an arthritic senior's over in astonishment to see that it had been _Orihime _of all people to ask that of her. Asuka's mouth unhinged itself just because she had been beaten to the punch, but nevertheless she got to witness the look on Kin's face, and that was priceless.

"Wha…bu…you…uh…why…?" Kin had been reduced to a babbling mess, and the amount of incoherent mumbles was enough to send the other two women in the room into snickers. "Tha-That's like me asking you how your husband is!!" she finally shouted out after the embarrassment—which still hadn't left—ran its course. Imagine her horror when the busty orangehead's eyes seemed to glaze over, while a smile so unusual it didn't seem possible in anything other than an anime came over her face. Drool was even threatening to fall from her mouth! Asuka's face turned dark red. She may be extremely thankful for her enhanced senses, but it was at times like these that they caused her trouble. Orihime was still a knockout, but it wasn't like she _wanted_ to smell her arousal. "Have you no shame!? Argh! Why'd I even say that!?!"

Something that rarely seemed to occur to Asuka and Kin was that they were still barely nineteen years old, because they were strong enough to be seriously respected in either spiritual realm. However, that also meant they didn't have near as much experience as the woman sitting on the bed when it came to actually _living life._ "Why should I be ashamed?" Orihime asked in the deadest of seriousness, and caught both other women off-guard. Seeing the one scramble for answers while Asuka caught on rather quickly, Orihime crossed her arms under her bust proudly. "That's right, there is no reason. If I was ashamed of that than I would be ashamed of Uryuu, and if you're ashamed of the one you love you clearly don't love him."

Kin's heart nearly stopped in shock. "Don't you dare even _think_ I don't love him!"

"Well then what's the problem?" Asuka asked smoothly as she slinked back gracefully into one of the chairs of the room and crossed her legs. "I can get this party started if you don't want to; after all, I've told you a few times how good Souken is in—"

"We are NOT having this conversation!" Kin shouted, fighting off her own curiosity. She had been given more than enough information regarding that to last her a lifetime.

Orihime pouted. "Aww, why not? If he's anything like his father—"

Thankfully, or perhaps not, the door opened before anything else could be said. If it had been a male then Kin would have jumped for joy just because this was a topic never discussed in a mixed environment, but fate really seemed to hate her that day as it turned out, because it was Retsu Ukitake who peeked in. "What's all the commotion in here about?" she asked kindly.

Asuka's grin took on inhuman proportions. "Grab a set, you can join us." The doctor smiled gently and took the invitation, entering and closing the door behind her as she took a seat beside Orihime on the bed.

"What are we talking about?" That too was said with another trademark Retsu, eye-closing smile.

Asuka pulled no punches. "Sex," she answered bluntly, and to Kin's surprise the woman only seemed slightly taken aback, and her composure had been regained quite quickly after the initial surprise.

"I'm leaving." The Shihouin princess could only take so much. If they wanted to take about their love lives than so be it, but she wasn't going to be a part of it.

"Why?" Retsu asked straight-out, and stopped her cold. "It's a necessary function for the propagation of the species, not to mention thoroughly enjoyable. Are you afraid?"

_Like hell!! _Kin Urahara-Shihouin was afraid of _nothing_. Well, that wasn't entirely true…anymore.

The grin on Asuka's face had returned full-force. "She's just a bit sheepish 'cause she just became a woman last night."

The braided woman's eyes widened. "The tension between you two yesterday was almost palpable. No wonder."

Kin's face was once again heating up, but she held her temper in check. "We had our reasons, okay!?"

The Fourth Division's captain's benevolent smile didn't falter. "I'm not accusing you of anything. In this day and age it is commendable to save yourself for your husband, I was merely stating an observation."

The youth seemed much more at ease with that remark, and Asuka had the decency to be in awe of the elder Shinigami captain. Kindness, strength, and skill such as hers were things rarely found in the worlds. That didn't stop her from moving a foot over and poking Kin in the hip to bring her back to the Present though; she couldn't allow the object of her curiosity to zone out on her. Said curiosity was piqued even further when Kin actually _winced_ at the contact. _She can take a punch from me, but not a tap? What the hell?_

This hadn't gone unnoticed by the other two in the room either, and their looks portrayed their confusion. "Are you okay, Kin?" Orihime asked softly.

Kin smiled amusedly while she rubbed what had definitely formed into a bruise, thinking of the identical one she must surely have on her other hip. "Like I said before, I could use some healing, alright?"

"What happened?" Retsu asked worriedly.

The Shihouin heir sighed dejectedly. It seemed there was no way out of this after all. She carefully made sure the door to the room was locked and, even though she was surrounded by other women, she still blushed a little when she pulled her jeans down enough to show the marks on her hips, thus revealing her skimpy black undergarments as well.

Asuka's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. What she was seeing was definitely bruises, even on the darker skin they were becoming noticeable, and they were shaped exactly like _human hands_. "Holy _hell_…"

As soon as she was sure everyone had seen her jeans were up faster than she could regularly run. First Kaien had destroyed all their plans when he took of his jacket before, and here she was doing this now. _If there is a God, he hates me. _ "We didn't go to sleep last night, okay? He thought we might fall asleep during presents so we each took one of those Fourth Division energy pill thingys."

The shock was still clear on Asuka's face. "Didn't go to sleep? Damn, that's not the only thing you did obviously!"

The woman in question rubbed the side of her head embarrassedly. "Well, I might have gotten a bit carried away…"

At that Asuka nearly choked on her own saliva. "_You_ got a bit carried away!? I don't think _you_ could have done that to yourself!"

Kin looked at her friend like she was the stupidest thing she had ever seen. "I'm sure _you_ know very well who did those, don't you? You _are_ the one who kept prodding me to tell!!" She had gone from reminiscing happily to openly pissed, so Asuka made sure to tread carefully with the next few comments.

"Did…didn't that hurt?"

A blank stare met her. "I could have been stabbed through the chest and not felt a thing, but you should know that too shouldn't you? Or maybe your archer's not as talented as you make him out to be?"

Her Hollow pride had her up and over in an instant, snarling in the face of the woman who had just taunted her partner. "Watch your mouth."

Kin didn't flinch. "Then you watch yours."

That argument had been stalemated as soon as it began, and Asuka knew that right away. With an angry huff, she stomped over and fell back down into her seat. "I'm sorry." It was bitter, but an apology nonetheless.

Hearing those words, Kin's eyes softened immediately. "Me too. I'm just a bit too tired I guess. Heh, I get cranky without my sleep, but I can honestly say I don't miss it at all."

"You can say that again!" Orihime piped up excitedly. "Kaien must have had thirty different marks on his back this morning!"

It would seem that her blood's favorite place to be today was her face, because once again the cocoa-skinned blond felt it rush to her cheeks. "I didn't know how bad it was until this morning. I'm sure you would have too if he did that to yo—nevermind…"

One of Asuka's neon blue eyebrows stretched up. "If he did _what_ to us?"

"N-Nothing!"

Now even Retsu was beyond curious. "Come, what was it?"

Another rant of embarrassed babbles was going to start, or so it seemed, but before it could a rather hard _thump_ of something hitting something alerted the tenants of the room to another thing happening elsewhere. "What was that?"

The blue-eyed hybrid closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound. "What the hell? It sounds like it's coming from Kaien's room."

Kin was up and out of the room not even a second later.

………

He hated this feeling.

Helpless, powerless, useless; he couldn't even find enough adjectives to aptly describe his futility. It was like he was outside his body looking down through a hazy darkness that gave the impression it wasn't really himself he was looking at. Pain never seemed to end in this place, and he could feel the muscles in his body move as he looked down on the identical movements below, but wherever he was he wouldn't move likewise. He knew the muscles were in use, but the commands weren't doing anything to his limbs as he looked down on the creature he once believed was him.

He could see everyone, hear everyone, but he couldn't move to them, couldn't talk to them, interact with them, _warn_ them. He didn't know how he knew, but it was like he was aware of something else in control of his body, and this something felt nothing but primitive instinct. It understood the feelings of companionship for a mate, hatred for an enemy, the scent of family, and protection of its territory, but no higher emotional qualities that made a human being what they were.

It was like he was behind a wall of thick glass that prevented him from returning to the body he could see, no matter how hard he hit or how loud he cried, nothing would ever happen to affect the body below. His knuckles were battered and bruised and his throat had been scraped raw, but he could still see his father and Jyushiro standing by his body.

Then movement caught his eye, and he could feel the body below him respond to the movement with instant hostility. His bloodshot eyes widened in terror as he saw Kin rise and cry out his name, and once again he screamed everything he could think of, anything to get her to hear him. A mate would be recognized usually, but not in this state.

_Stop! Don't come!!! Stay away from me!! Please God don't move!!!_ His mouth was moving but no words were coming out, his hands were scratching at the glass but nothing was happening, his tears were falling but only the bloody counterparts of his physical body could be seen. He _watched_, horrified, as his body lashed out its hair-like tentacles at his fiancé but he couldn't do anything, and worse yet another of his family friends, his would-be aunt, Orihime, had pushed herself into the fray.

_STOP!! For the love of God please stop attacking!! They're family!! Not her! I can't hurt Kin! I promised!!! I promised damn it!!!_

He fell to his knees, helpless as he cried and shouted, unable to do anything but watch the scene unfold. He watched himself gain the power to alter Time itself, and finally after what seemed like an eternity of torture that wracked both his body and mind the last thing he could see was something blue, calming the body below and easing his own existence in this strange world.

He could only pray that this dream ended soon, because he knew it had to be a dream. It was only in dreams that fear like this could be experienced, and he wondered when the nightmare would leave him in peace.

In this place, he could only scream.

Scream, cry, and pray that it ended.

_Kin…please…please forgive me…_

………

Tsukiyomi had been quietly observing the conversations around her when she heard the abrupt _slam_ of a sliding door opening, and instinct told her to follow when she saw Kin rush out of the room like the horsemen of the apocalypse were on her tail. Why she was in such a rush she had no idea, but when she skidded to a stop on the hardwood floor and peeled the door in front of her open, the white-haired Kurosaki knew something had to be wrong.

It was her brother's door.

She rushed in after her future sister-in-law and wasn't expecting Kin to stop, so she ran headfirst into the body that had stopped stiff upon entering. "Ow! What the…" She muttered as she rubbed her sore nose, and only then did she look past the body to see that her older brother was in a tangled mess of bed-sheets and covers on the floor, and he was clawing at the air like his life depended on it.

His hair was slick and glistening in the light being allowed in, and his skin was shining from the amount of sweat beading off him. His pants were the only thing they had kept him in when they returned him to his bed after his transformation, and even they were sticking to his body from the amount of moisture they had absorbed. Each muscle was tensed to the extent of rigid detail, and it was almost like his skin was going to break over the corded sinew trying desperately to escape its hold.

Kin couldn't move. She could see the pain clear on his face but it was far too much like the symptoms of his transformation. Even now those images wouldn't leave her mind, the time just a short while ago where his mind lost control of his body, the time where for the first time in her life she had been positively terrified of her best friend and lover. Even she, heir to the title of Goddess of Flash, had no time to react when those _things_ had shot at her, and were it not for Orihime she had no idea what would have happened. Even though it was Kaien, she still couldn't help but think she would have died. She was too afraid to move, to go over to her own fiancé, and she hated herself for it. Tsukiyomi on the other hand had no problem with that, in fact she rushed over to her brother's side in the heartbeat it had taken for Kin to contemplate her fear.

"Kaien! Kaien wake up!!" she shouted at the flailing body, and Kin flinched when she saw his arms shoot over to grip the shoulders of his little sister with crushing force. Tsuki had no problems with this, however uncomfortable it might look, because she had her own strength to rely on. She put a hand on the fingers gripping her shoulders and looked down to see Kaien's eyes were wide open, staring her in the face with the bright, iridescent yellow eyes that put even Kin's to shame.

They were sightless.

His eyes were glazed over, like his body was responding to the command but only his mind was seeing an image. He was still asleep.

"Stop! Don't come!! Stay away from me!! Please God don't move!!!" Even the exclamations were uttered in only an urgent whisper, full of enough emotion to make the extra volume normally associated to such insistent pleads unnecessary.

Those words seemed to hang in the air as those that had followed into the room absorbed them, and the full meaning of what they were trying to convey was only understood by one person.

Tsukiyomi felt like her heart had just been stabbed with a million tiny needles. Her incredible black eyes moistened, and everyone looked on as the coldest member of the Kurosaki children started crying. The normally emotionless princess threw herself into her brother's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck as she sobbed into his collarbone. This, this was one thing she could understand, one thing she couldn't help but empathize with. "You're still fighting aren't you? Even now you're still fighting it…"

Her words went unheard on the body still ensnared in slumber. "STOP!! For the love of God please stop attacking!! They're family!! Not her! I can't hurt Kin! I promised!!! I promised damn it!!!" He was crying now, and his hands were back scratching at the air like there was no one hugging him.

Kin felt the world start spinning around her and suddenly her knees seemed as reliable as gelatin. Her legs gave out on her and she fell to her knees as tears formed and fell from her eyes. He was seeing it, some deep part of his subconscious had retained his memories and he was seeing them in his dreams, something so terrifying he was fighting with all of his being to stop it.

And she had doubted him. Worse, she had been afraid of him.

Eventually his flailing arms fell to the ground in an act of damned finality, and the pitiful whimpers continuing as his sobs mingled with his sister's were all that could be heard in the deathly silent room. Kin managed to get up enough motor control to move over to the siblings, and she wrapped her thin arms around them both while her own tears fell. That was when she heard it, the last words of a man trapped in his own personal hell.

"Kin…please…please forgive me…"

And for the second time that day, Kin Urahara-Shihouin was reduced to bawling like a baby. She, his own fiancé, had been unable to see what Tsukiyomi had seen so clearly right away. What had happened hurt him a million times more than it hurt her, and thanks to Orihime she hadn't actually been touched. Her fear was nothing compared to his, and she was so disgusted at herself all she could do was cry.

_Next time…next time I'll be there for him._ It was the one thing her pained heart could do: vow to never let it happen again. She would never be afraid of him again. Even if her body trembled and froze, she would force herself to be by his side. Next time she would stop him, because she knew he recognized her. She was a part of him now, just as he was a part of her. Next time would be different, she swore it.

"I forgive you, I forgive you Kaien. Please…please, can you forgive _me?_"

With those words the near-hysteric body in her arms calmed almost immediately, and his breathing once again evened out into the deep REM sleep of the previous instance while he went limp. After a little while Tsukiyomi disentangled herself from his body and wiped her puffy eyes, but Kin wasn't willing to do the same. Having witnessed everything, Orihime wiped her own wet eyes and put her hands out in front of her. "Souten Kishun."

Kin felt something encompass her, but she couldn't care. As her bruises, hickeys, and everything else that might have marred her skin disappeared, her body's natural balance was restored as well, to the extent that the energy pill itself was Rejected from within her. As soon as that happened Kin felt whatever energy that might have been supporting her disappear, and she slumped into Kaien's body, fast asleep.

Tsukiyomi smiled whimsically down on the two before she started cleaning up the sheets and covers that had scattered around Kaien when he had fallen from his bed. Even they were soaked in sweat but she still did it, because he was exactly like her now. She remembered everything she did when she lost control, and she knew the fear he had experienced, because it was just like hers. Remorse and fear, she knew those very well.

The others silently left the room, shaken after what they had just witnessed, and allowed Tsukiyomi to do her work in peace. After everything had been replaced, she reached down and picked up her brother—who was both four years older than her and a good eighty pounds heavier, a true testament to the power she housed within her—and laid the unconscious body in bed. She repeated the process with Kin and something deep inside her clenched when the woman instantly rolled into the body she had been put near. She was only fourteen, but that didn't mean she didn't crave the companionship her brother had found.

She sighed as she left the room and closed the door. It looked like she had another problem on her hands now; she was just way too tense to enjoy the trip to Soul Society. It was going to be one of those long bath nights tonight.

………

It was only natural that after a good number of people walked back into the living room, looking for all intents and purposes like their puppies had all died simultaneously, the owner of the house would be a bit curious as to what just happened. Everyone was well acquainted with Ichigo's silent moments, and they could sense the dark aura that radiated from him after they were done. His bangs shielded his eyes from sight, and wordlessly he had gotten up and left the room. A few people were wondering why he left so abruptly, but there was one at least that knew.

Tatsuki sighed sullenly and rubbed her swelling stomach. Ichigo never had liked people to see him cry, and now was no different. Even the almighty Ichigo Kurosaki could cry, and any other father would be no different were their children in the same situation.

It was late at night now, and the orange-haired King was lying awake in bed, unable to sleep. He knew his kids were probably still up because they went to bed late naturally, and so did he, but today he wanted to get a bit more rest before the trip to Soul Society. That, and light always bothered his eyes after he had cried. Even if he forced it to stop, the damage was already done, and going to sleep sounded like the perfect way to excuse himself. It had sounded like a good idea at the time.

As it was, that didn't seem like it was going to happen. His own kids were worse off than he had been at their age, and he couldn't do a damn thing to help them other than to be their dad and be there for them. It was infuriating. He had enough power to reign over the entire realm of the Hollows, but he couldn't even help his own children!! He tossed restlessly about his side of the bed, trying to find a comfortable position only to realize he wasn't going to get to sleep anyways.

_So some part of Kaien remembered what he did this time? That never happened before,_ he thought to ease his overactive mind. For the first year in Hueco Mundo training Kaien had been like walking on eggshells. He had willpower, but he couldn't recognize the signs that he was about to lose control, and since later he would have no recollection of anything he had done, it was impossible to teach him how to repress it. Needless to say, they had learned very quickly to keep Tsukiyomi away from him while they were training. Being that his child was completely and utterly unique made teaching him anything regarding his powers almost absolutely impossible to begin with, so naturally the uncharted territory was rocky for a time before Kaien had finally managed to keep a hold of himself. _Maybe it has something to do with his Hollow hole disappearing…? That would explain some of it._

His thoughts were interrupted when the door to their bedroom was opened, and Ichigo winced against the offending light being let in to try and see who it was. The door closed and a soft _click_ indicated it had been locked. Ichigo knew the locking mechanism on their door instantly triggered the reiatsu inhibitors of their bedroom, thus making their power undetectable to the outside world—it also triggered the barrier he had put around their room too, but it wasn't like he was going to tell people that he had soundproofed it. If anyone found out, he could always claim it was another defense against their reiatsu leaking out into the world. _He_ could still sense the reiatsu though, since he was inside the room, and recognizing his own wife's power was rather easy. It was almost as powerful as his in its dormant state after all.

He sighed for no particular reason and flopped back against the bed. His sensitive ears heard a similar sigh before the rustling of clothes drew his attention and then he was suddenly being laid against by a soft nude body. Some part of him wanted to fight the physical effects he knew this would have on him—other than the obvious—but to no avail, and the tension in his body melted away under her embrace.

"Two angsty teenagers and a father to match. I can only hope this little one takes after Masaki," Tatsuki joked slyly as she poked her ever-loving husband in the ribs. Her eyes fluttered when his large hand moved over and gently stroked down her growing belly lovingly, and she could see his magnificent amber eyes sparkle in the dim light of the room as he looked down at her swollen abdomen.

"I never thought being a parent would be so hard…" The irony in his voice was thick as smoke, but there was real emotion behind it, like he couldn't believe this was their fourth…fifth, since Ikki counted, child and not their first.

Tatsuki chuckled lightly and placed her hand on his reassuringly. "We're doing everything we can for them. That's all we _can_ do. Besides, Kaien's getting _married_, I don't think he'll want to stay at home forever!"

At the Ichigo had to laugh too. "I know, I know," he conceded, and his voice had lost the depression he had previously been under. Tatsuki never ceased to amaze him, and this time she hadn't even needed to resort to violence to get him to see reason. It wouldn't be the first time. "I remember when we said our 'I do's, and I wouldn't have cared if we were living in a goat hut in the middle of nowhere, as long as I was with you I knew I would be happy."

The former tomboy felt her cheeks heat up and she brushed some of her longer hair out of her face embarrassedly. "You're still such a fricken sap." But, as usual, her words had lost their usual bite and were instead warm and happy. Funny how it was, she just couldn't find it in herself to stay mad at him.

"And I still love you," he replied with one of his childish grins as he pulled her back to his chest.

Tatsuki melted. Yes, she still hated using terms like that, but it was the only thing she could think of to describe it. She knew it was probably just the extra hormones playing havoc with her system, but she felt more warmth than usual from his body, and his loving words had made whatever muscles poised to fight back at any time were he to make a stupid statement—something that had definitely happened before—turn to some kind of indescribable mush. That, and his other arm was wrapped softly under her bosom, something that had been growing increasingly sensitive over the weeks. His head was nestled gently in the crook of her neck and his hot breath was tickling her skin, which under the circumstances was both bothering and exciting her.

"Ichigo…" She could feel the other effect of her molding herself against him pressing against her butt, through neither of their intentional actions, but it was something that her mind had decided to zero in on. After their bodies had been restored Ichigo had thought it to be a good idea to start sleeping in the nude again now that his muscles didn't get so sore if he woke up cold. Her hyperactive hormones were acting up again, but ever since he had found out she was pregnant the infuriating man beside her had chosen to keep his hands to himself, for once. Right now she found that increasingly frustrating. Said male gave a low mumble in response to his name and kissed the flesh under his mouth softly, apparently none the wiser to her growing state of arousal. Just the touch of his lips sent fire to her nether-regions, so she decided to take the more direct approach.

Over a month of abstinence was long enough for her, and since she knew longer stretches than that were to come in the later months of her pregnancy, she made the quick decision to act before the opportunity was lost. Ichigo wasn't the only one affected by lack of intimacy after all. With a barely-restrained moan she rolled her hips back and rubbed the hard organ pressing against her in the flesh of her ass, and to her delight she felt the relaxed body of her husband go stiff, or in some cases, stiffer.

"The baby…" His low voice warned, already knowing she knew what he meant by those two words alone. He _was_ a doctor for goodness sakes.

"…will be fine. Please Ichigo?" she completed for him. She knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt the baby, but at times he was a bit too overprotective of her. Not that she really minded though. Her ragged moan broke through the silence when his hand trailed down the small bump of her stomach and started gently caressing the folds of her sex. "Yes...! Just like that…"

She could feel his smile in the back of her neck, and though the thought crossed her mind to get mad at him, another expert dip of his fingers and that flew away like dust in the wind. "Heh, have you missed this?" he asked, maybe a bit too smartly for the gravelly state of his voice.

Tatsuki couldn't help it, it was gut instinct. Her head moved of it's own accord to turn around so she could smash her lips against his, and it was around then that she completely forgot why she had done that in the first place. When his tongue snaked out to plunder her mouth she nearly forgot she was pregnant too. When he pulled away, as equally dazed as her, he saw her Hollowized eyes looking at him hungrily. _**"You little bastard, you planned this didn't you?"**_

Ichigo laughed lightly and pressed more insistently into her with his fingers, massaging her inner walls like one would outer flesh. His intent was reached when her eyes fluttered and rolled back in her head as a seductive groan was issued from her gasping mouth. "If you think I could hold out for this long other than to keep you safe you're out of your mind. Torture doesn't begin to describe it…" he whispered hoarsely as he nibbled at her nape. Kissing a trail along her collarbone to her shoulder, she tried to thrash in his grip only to be held firm by the body pressing into her from behind.

"_**No fair dammit…no faaaiiirrr…"**_ she moaned again when he ground himself against her and she bucked her hips up, unsure of whether she was trying to get more attention from his hand or the hard erection teasing her backside. The pleasure was coursing through her like a drug, and she wanted nothing else but to bask in its glow for as long as she could. Her muscles had all given away their control and she felt so ridiculously happy she was sure it _was_ a drug going through her. The hand that had stayed under her bust moved up to tease one of her nipples, and she arched her back into him even harder as she cried out. She was glad she wasn't lactating yet, but in preparation for that her breasts were so sensitive the lightest touch felt like an electrical current had just run through her. _**"Please…no more…!! Give it to me!"**_

She fell to her back when Ichigo moved from behind her and poised himself above her, which under any other situation would have been intimidating with his impressive physique. One of his hands slipped between the bed and her body, grasping her gently above her tailbone and lifting her lower body off the bed, sliding him into her at an excruciatingly slow pace. Tatsuki's moan was much more pronounced this time, and her hands instantly went to her breasts since at the moment he had absolute control of their lovemaking.

After over a month of self-restraint, Ichigo was fighting every male instinct within him to keep it slow. Holding her up like he was was nothing with his strength, but his legs were gradually losing feeling as he plunged into her again and momentarily numbed his muscles. His long, careful and powerful strokes were perfect for the situation, and after so long her hoarse cries and hums were like music to his ears. He leaned himself down to capture her lips and she responded greedily while he lowered and raised her lower body and he pushed to meet the timing.

Each thrust was drawn-out yet still so cataclysmic Tatsuki thought she was going to lose her mind. He was reaching so deep inside her she could hardly breathe but she knew she could. Her own mind was playing tricks on her under the intense euphoria and she clamped down on him harder, trying to quicken her sought release. He still felt so large within her it was like they had never made love before, but four children made that impossible. From this seemingly awkward position as he took care of practically everything himself and their lips met in feverish passion, he was hitting just the right spot within her that was making her toes curl and her grip on him tighten.

She was close, he knew it. He was too, and so he was really glad he knew the signs of her oncoming orgasm. Breaking away from her mouth, which she then took the opportunity of using her now free head to thrash it back and forth, he bit down on one of her nipples while pinching her clit at the same time and Tatsuki convulsed under him as her cry broke out of ravaged vocal chords. As Ichigo felt her tightening around him he knew he was doomed, and the tension coiling in his body just waiting to be released snapped violently and he trembled over her as his climax rushed out of him. With his strength momentarily gone, they both slumped to the bed with their heavy breathing the only sound in the room.

He looked over at her through his haze and saw her resting on her back, skin flushed endearingly while she smiled contently with her eyes closed. She looked too damn sexy at that moment Ichigo couldn't resist leaning over and capturing her mouth once again, something Tatsuki had no qualms about, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to continue. When he finally pulled away she kept her arms there and he stayed poised above her, looking down on her with gentle emotion radiating from his happy eyes.

"God I love you. I just can't stop," he confessed breathlessly. He leaned down again and made Tatsuki squeal in a very un-Tatsuki-like manner when he combined that with a rather pointed grind of his hips.

Her eyes glinted in the dim light of the room as she smiled seductively. "I love you too Ichigo. I'm not ready to call it a night yet though."

He just grinned right back at her before darting back down.

This passion wasn't going to be extinguished any time soon.

………

Eyes blinked lazily before they realized something was off about their location. Kaien's eyes shot open and they darted around curiously. The last thing he remembered he was fighting Captain Ukitake, and he had gotten cut. He did remember having the worst nightmare he had had in a long time, but that was second to figuring out what had happened.

_Did I pass out? That hasn't happened since I first started assimilating zanpakutous…._ He raised his right arm from his position lying down, as the scar on his left would be hard to see being that it was mostly covered with black ink, and his pupils narrowed to mere dots in his irises as his breathing went from slow and easy to hyperventilation.

The scar was there all right, but there were also six other lines connected to it, forming an identical formation to Orihime's hairpins. He had acquired the Shun Shun Rikka. Just like his dream. _It…it was real…I really…almost killed Kin and Auntie Orihime…._

He pulled himself up and a soft noise alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone in the room. Looking around, he froze upon witnessing his fiancé and lover, Kin Urahara-Shihouin, in the same bed as him. After checking the air, he could smell the remaining scent of her tears, and he could tell just from looking at her that she had been crying. He couldn't understand why she would be in his bed after what he had done, he simply couldn't. He hated himself.

Unable to stop himself despite his own protests, he reached out and tucked a mass of golden blonde hair behind her ear and smiled sadly when she leaned into his touch with a happy sigh. "And here I thought I was close to deserving you…" he whispered softly, with audile disgust at himself.

He had almost _killed_ her.

"What the hell kind of fiancé am I!?" He ran his hands through his hair angrily and arranged the covers that had been on him onto Kin before he left the bed, over to the washroom connected to his room. As he stood staring himself in the mirror he could see the remnants of dried blood sticking to his eyelashes, and he knew that the body he had seen in his dream had actually been him. "So that's what I look like huh? No wonder Asuka's so afraid of me…"

The realization hurt more than he had thought it would.

He hung his head and simply stood there, hunched over the sink as he fought off the urge to cry. "Dammit…what'll Kin think of me now!? I can't put her through that again…but I can't take back what we did…I can't call it off…I can't do that to her now." He looked back up at his reflection in the mirror, and was suddenly furious at the person he saw looking back at him. "WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO HURT THE PEOPLE I LOVE!?!?"

Before any thought had even been processed he had lashed out and punched the mirror in front of him, anything to make that image, that sickening antithesis of himself, go away. The sound of breaking glass shattered the stale silence of the morning and his knuckles bled from the shards that had stuck into his fist, but he barely felt the pain. His breathing was coming in labored pants and his muscles were flexing and uncoiling as he fought down the desire to destroy more, but the disgust had yet to fade. It was no use, he knew he was crying now. He hated crying, he hated the weakness, but ever since he had come back he had cried more than he had ever done in his entire life before. Whether they were from happiness or sadness he didn't really care to note at the moment. He reached his hands out to the wall as his balance wavered and he leant heavily on the wall above the sink trying desperately to keep himself relatively quiet.

He stiffened when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist and a head was set against his back, just as she had done once before. "Why do you always have to hurt yourself?" a soft voice asked sadly.

That got a sick, one-breath laugh from the young man. "More like why do I always have to hurt _you_? I remember…everything. I thought it had to be a dream…but I know…I know it was real now."

Kin's grip around him got tighter. "I know…and I'm sorry."

Kaien tried to turn around to face her just from the surprise that plea evoked from him, but she held him firm. He couldn't describe the emotion that welled up in him when she said that, but if there was something worse than disgust it had to be that. Why on earth would _she_ be apologizing to _him?_ "Why in the hell are you saying sorry? I'm the one who should be saying I'm sorry, hell, I'm the one who should be on my knees begging for your forgiveness, not the other way around." His voice was still full of bitterness and hatred, self-loathing that went far beyond depression.

He had forgotten how much strength his fiancé had packed into her small frame, and soon the man a full head taller than her had been twirled around and she had reached up, pulling his head down for a kiss that tasted like the saltiness of _both_ of their tears. His wide eyes never closed as he looked at her once again tear-streaked face while she kissed him, and when she pulled away and opened her eyes to look up at him he could _see_ the regret tearing apart her insides. She hugged him to her in a distraught clasp and he hesitantly put his arms around her trembling body.

He was awake, and she was in his arms again, yet all she could think of was those last words of the night past. Through her hiccups she said what had been eating away at her heart ever since. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was afraid of you…I was _terrified_ of you, and even when you were sleeping you were crying, trying to get yourself to stop. I heard everything you said, and I heard you beg for forgiveness once already. I forgive you Kaien, I forgive you for everything you've ever done and everything you'll ever do, just please forgive me too!" She buried her head into his chest like she wanted to curl up and die right there, and for some reason Kaien felt warmth explode through his body like a flash-fire. Her words, words from their first experience with his more Hollow side, came back to him full force and a small smile broke out on his face as he gingerly held the woman in his arms.

He never should have questioned this. This was love, unconditional love.

He really was an idiot.

He pushed her away and before she could voice her protests or look at him in confusion he had leant down and tenderly pressed his lips against hers. This wasn't a desperate kiss, this was a kiss full of love, a kiss full of forgiveness; simply put, it was _their _kiss, as Kaien carefully bit and nibbled at her beautifully thin lips like they were the sweetest things he had ever tasted. It was her turn to have the wide eyes this time, but they closed serenely as the treatment continued and coaxed any tension and even her tears away. She felt warm, really warm, and when his hands reached up and gently caressed down the sides of her face she nearly started crying again. He knew. She had gotten her point across, and at the same time she was reminded of how he made her feel. When he pulled away she was unable to stop the whine of discontent, but he pulled her back to his chest and gently held her there as they stood amidst shards of mirror.

"I forgive you," he whispered caringly. "I love you with everything I am, and the thought of hurting you scares me so much I just…"

She laughed softly and flicked his nose with her middle finger playfully. "I know already. I promise I'll always be with you Kaien, isn't that one of the lines? 'For richer or poorer, through the good _and_ the bad times'?"

Kaien chuckled too. "If it isn't, I'll _make_ it part of my vows. You are so amazing."

She smiled and snuggled into him. "You're not too bad yourself." Satisfied with her show of appreciation, and knowing what the plans were for today, she grudgingly removed herself from his embrace. "Now let's get you and this place cleaned up, we're going on a trip after all." With that, she carefully walked out of the room.

Kaien Kurosaki smiled and followed.

_You really are amazing, Kin…_

.

………

.

"We'll be going now. We'll get the Senkaimon ready for you guys, so wait just a little while. The entrance should be right around here, so be ready when it gets here. See you in a bit!" Rukia announced from the entrance of the round door she and the other Shinigami were entering with their Hell Butterflies. Hanatarou and Nemu would be safe if they stayed with the captains even when they got to Soul Society.

"For the fifth time, we got it already! Now get the hell outta here!" Ichigo immediately shouted back, and as the door was closing they could see Rukia pulling down one of her eyelids as she stuck her tongue out at the orange-haired captain. He let loose a relieved exhalation when it was finally done and the only ones left were his immediate family, as Chad and Halibel, Karin and Ulquiorra, and their families had already left back to Hueco Mundo. This time it wasn't their fight. Yuzu and Jinta had gone home too with Isshin in tow, much to Jinta's annoyance.

He looked over to where his son was standing with Kin leaning into his side, and noticed the look of sadness still hadn't disappeared from his face. Yesterday he had been looked at like a god among men by his younger counterparts from the other families, and today all he could read in their eyes was fear; all but those that had lived in Hueco Mundo, like the Ishida's and the Sado's. It was a terrible feeling. Ichigo sighed and walked over to pat his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Don't worry about them, they'll come around sooner or later. Besides, it's your first trip to Soul Society, you shouldn't look so down!"

Kaien tried to smile, really he did, but it was only when Kin squeezed his one un-bandaged hand reassuringly had he been able to manage it. "You're right! Maybe I'll stop by the academy, see what they all learn there just for kicks!" It was forced, but it was better than nothing.

Both Ichigo and Tatsuki smiled, and right after that a blinding white light illuminated behind them. "Looks like it's here, let's get going." With that, Ichigo, Tatsuki, Tsukiyomi, Masaki, Kin, and Kaien, walked into that light to the next world.

To Soul Society.

………

**Author's Notes:** Another chapter done! I hope the flame tattoos make sense now, to those that didn't know what I was alluding to last chapter. I'm glad people are still enjoying this story, but I guess a lot are still reading its predecessor when they see this story first. Thanks to those that reviewed, and those that _keep_ reviewing! You're awesome guys, and totally appreciated!

Totally off topic, but to CptnEdwards, I'm glad you're taking a bit of time releasing the latest chapter of your Lisa/Ichigo fic, because I think the previous two chapters would have been good together instead of apart. I'm sure your fans of the story (including me) won't mind the wait, because generally the longer the wait, the more satisfying the chapter. I'm looking forward to Ichigo's…opening of the can of whooping #$#%, LOL!

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!


	18. Welcome

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**Welcome**

…

_Both Ichigo and Tatsuki smiled, and right after that a blinding white light illuminated behind them. "Looks like it's here, let's get going." With that, Ichigo, Tatsuki, Tsukiyomi, Masaki, Kin, and Kaien, walked into that light to the next world._

_To Soul Society._

…

Running, running, running. That was the only prerequisite. No spirit could be used, so that meant no Shunpo and no Sonido, just straight running. He could only thank God that the Janitor wasn't here that particular day, as he had been told the stories by his father, but the time limit was a pain in the ass. Luckily, the white light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter.

The irony of his thoughts caused a chuckle.

Finally, the light exploded around them and they passed through the Dangai. His hypersensitive eyes were momentarily blinded by the bright light and he winced as he felt his feet land on solid ground. He could hear sounds around him but he couldn't see yet, though that was unimportant, he could tell the difference just from the air. While not as strong as Hueco Mundo, the very air around him seemed to thrum with spirit particles, and he hadn't realized how much of a damper being in the Living World had put on him until he felt his muscles strengthen like a dehydrated sponge being put in water.

_Of course. No wonder we're so much stronger in Hueco Mundo, Shinigami can absorb reishi from their surroundings to strengthen themselves._

It was then that he realized he was seeing something other than simply white, and he blinked a couple of times to recognize his eyes had readjusted. He looked over to where Kin should be, and saw her flexing her hand and looking down on it in wonder. She certainly was observant, that was for sure; it had taken his father being told by Uryuu that that was possible to realize what was happening naturally. "Heh, so you noticed already. I thought the only reason I noticed so quickly was because of my blood," he said mirthfully.

Then again, his father never _had_ been the most observant person in the world.

Kin looked over to him with her amazed wide eyes. "It feels so much different from home. I actually feel like I'm _stronger_ here."

"That's because you are," a voice interjected. They looked over to see Tatsuki stretching after the long run, and her zanpakutou was back at her side. Since she had a Soul Reaper form, when her body was converted to soul form it merely changed her into her Shinigami state, without any potential damages to the baby that might have happened had she merely ejected her soul from her body. This way the baby's body was converted too. Since the body does everything but all-out die when the soul left, be it a Soul Reaper or not, the baby's growing body would have no doubt died from the lack of nutrients and life in general from its mother's body.

"Our powers are even stronger in Hueco Mundo, which has even more reishi. It's because though Soul Reapers use their reiatsu, or inner power, to fight, like a Quincy we also absorb reishi from our surroundings to bolster that power, though not quite as consciously as the Quincy do. More like a natural tendency," she concluded.

The implications of this were not lost on Kin. Though she may be stronger here, how much stronger would someone with _Hollow_ blood be? That wasn't even taking into account his natural home was Hueco Mundo, where they were even _stronger_. Even when she was thinking about Kaien, Kin couldn't help but recognize Ichigo, who was merely standing off to the side breathing in the air he hadn't in nearly two decades. His captain haori was swaying gently in the breeze and with the spirit particles around him, plus the lack of the reiatsu dampeners that his house was equipped with, she was feeling the full force of his reiatsu in its _lowest possible state_.

She had her hesitancies about Kaien, but she was absolutely terrified of his father now.

He was a captain, no doubt about that.

"So what's going on now?" Kaien asked as he scratched the side of his head disinterestedly.

"I'm gonna go talk to Old Man Yama before I go lay the beat-down on that bastard Kurotsuchi. I don't care if the Captain Commander doesn't agree; I'm not letting him get away with that no matter what!"

"_**So what about us?"**_ Tsukiyomi asked off-handedly. She, as usual, was in her normal state, that of her parents' White Transformation. She wasn't going to be ashamed of her form, neither was she going to back down if anyone confronted her about it.

Ichigo gave them a lopsided grin with a wicked glint in his eyes. "You can go look around for a while, and you'll know when the shit hits the fan because you'll feel the reiatsu. Feel free to come and watch, but you don't have to." He turned back around to go pick up Tatsuki, but he stopped short and turned around one last time. "I know you're you-know-what, you-know-where," he whispered quietly, likely talking about their royalty status in Hueco Mundo, "but here you're simply seated officers in the Special Living World Corps, got that?"

Tsuki huffed indignantly, but Masaki nodded understandingly. "Yeah yeah, you told us back home already, Will Ikki be able to come out sometime?" she asked hopefully, for the both of them.

Their father winced. "We'll see; that's all I can say right now Masaki, I'm sorry. For now, please just bear with it. I know Ikki, it's not the same viewing it through her eyes, but we're in dangerous territory right now." He went over and hugged his daughter after speaking to both aspects of her like it was nothing strange at all, though it might have looked that way to anyone watching.

Masaki sighed happily and hugged her father back. She knew, and Ikasam knew, how much their father loved them. They could handle the odd request from him, heavens knows he didn't ask very much of them normally. "Okay Daddy."

_**Okay Daddy,**_ Ikki echoed from inside, though she knew it was heard.

He smiled and ruffled her hair, which she straightened out immediately, though she knew it was all in fun. If anyone other than their father did that to _Tsukiyomi_ however, that anyone would quickly find themselves bereft of their arms. He turned away once again and called over his shoulder as he picked Tatsuki up effortlessly. "Buddy system guys! I don't want any of you alone, even if you think you can handle anything. No telling what the Twelfth Division is up to now that Kurotsuchi's lost his lieutenant. Most of the Soul Reapers here should be harmless, but you should be careful anyways. Ciao!" And he was gone before any of them could voice any kind of protest.

The only orange-haired Kurosaki left among them sighed in frustration and ran a hand through her neck-length hair. "For some reason I should have seen that one coming."

Tsukiyomi gave an odd laugh with her two-toned voice. _**"His first time here wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Still, it's pretty annoying to be treated like a kid again."**_

At that Kaien couldn't help but laugh. "Have you forgotten you're only fourteen? If height dictated age I'd think you're even younger!" he taunted jokingly, and watched his sisters' faces go red with outrage.

"Kin's not that much taller than us!!" Masaki fumed as she pulled the aforementioned person to her side and showed the truth of her words. Kin really was only a couple inches taller than the twins, but then again Ichigo had always towered over Yoruichi too.

It was obvious Masaki was trying to get a rise out of the older teen, so she was surprised when instead Kin gave her a sultry smile and turned to stand chest-to-chest with the slightly shorter youth. "That may be true, but your figure still has a long way to go." The youngest Kurosaki burned with embarrassment as her growing bust was pushed against by the much larger bosom of the cocoa-skinned beauty.

"_**You're so easy to manipulate, Masaki. Four years makes a difference you know, so stop getting so upset," **_Tsukiyomi explained, like the person she was talking to was a two-year old. _**Besides**_, she thought with an evil grin, _**I heard Byakuya-sensei's wife was Auntie Rukia's older sister. You could still be better in comparison even now.**_ She snickered for no apparent reason to any outsider, which caused said people to look at her confusedly. Naturally, being who she was, she did nothing in response.

Tsukiyomi may seem cold outwardly, but she was still a woman. An _evil_ woman, but a woman nonetheless.

And Kaien, though slightly turned-on by the sight of his fiancé rubbing breasts with another woman, was still sane enough to remember the other woman was his _sister_. "Uh, maybe we should get going…" he suggested hastily, and the two females split apart, to his relief.

Kin flicked some hair out of her face. "I guess so. Not like there's anything better to do."

"Mind if I tag along? This stupid buddy thing is for the birds, if I have to go with someone, I might as well go with more than one," Masaki stated matter-of-factly.

Tsuki huffed. _**"I guess that means I'm going too. Can't wander off on my own, Heaven forbid!"**_ She had inherited her parent's' sarcasm, that was for sure.

They started off for no particular area, or at least, that's what they _tried_ to do, but before any of them had even moved a reiatsu so powerful the killing intent was almost palpable had pushed down on the air around them. Kin was the most shocked by the sudden pressure, but she was able to get used to it after a second, a second which she soon realized she should have used, because it was after that second that she felt a large presence behind her, and she knew right then she was completely at whoever-it-was' mercy.

"I'm sure I just felt Ichigo here. Where'd the coward run off to?" a gruff voice ordered irately.

The white-haired Kurosaki was hypnotized looking up at the head of spiky hair far above her vision. She and Masaki almost came up to Kaien's shoulders, but on this man they barely made it above his abs. It was the haori'd uniform of someone they knew quite well, another someone they also knew well dangling from his shoulder. They did like to go to Hueco Mundo for a challenge every now and then after all. They were some of their more frequent visitors.

The head she was looking up at turned back to look at them and the pink head of hair beside it turned with it. "Been a while, girls. Where's your dad at?" The Eleventh Division captain both greeted and asked.

"Ken-chan hasn't had any fun in ages!!" the little pink-haired cutie added joyfully.

Tsukiyomi failed at giving her usual cocky grin and felt her ashen skin heat up under the intense one-eyed gaze of the eye-patched captain. His reiatsu was one that she could respect, that was for certain. _**"H-He went to talk with Old Man Yama. Some internal politics with the Twelfth Division went wrong and Dad's hoping to beat some sense into Mayuri for real this time."**_

Kenpachi Zaraki snorted derisively. "Tch, figures he would only come here for something like that. That science freak wouldn't even be fun to fight; he always lets other people do his dirty work, the frick'n coward! That Kisuke guy was hard to understand but at least he wasn't a freak show! Gotta have _some_ respect for a guy who can do that kind of thing with his bare hands."

Kin stood a little more proudly after that last statement. Her father may be an exile, but he had definitely not lost any of his usefulness or battle capability. Soul Society simply didn't want to acknowledge him for what he was. Arrogance is like that.

Meanwhile, Kaien was thinking of every possible scenario that could help them get out of this meeting without a fight. If Kenpachi was bored he was most likely to attack anyone strong, and at the moment there were four strong people all around him, even if they weren't on the same level as Ichigo. His first fight with their dad had been when Ichigo was only sixteen after all. Strength had nothing to do with age.

"The captains might be called to a meeting if the Captain Commander wants to stall our dad for any length of time. I don't think he'd approve of two captains killing each other," Masaki said, and Kaien knew she had been thinking of the same thing he had.

Another snort. "Bloody politics. I only want to fight!"

"Um," Kin interrupted as politely as she could, "I'm sorry but I don't know who you are. I know you're a captain but of what division?" She only said this because she and Kaien had been to his front while Masaki and Tsuki were behind him.

A little girl unceremoniously landed in front of her and looked up at her with wide eyes containing none of her surprise. "You don't know Ken-chan? Where've you been?"

"Cut it out Yachiru. I'll answer your question only if you answer me this: are you strong?"

Kaien saw her mouth open with her usual pride and he quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, as rude as it was. "Her zanpakutou's Kidou based," he said quickly, and any interest was lost immediately in Kenpachi's eyes.

"Damn! Here I thought the brat of those two was gonna be fun to fight with. Screw this, I'm goin' after your dad!" Kenpachi may appear unintelligent, but he did know how to use his brain. Blonde hair, bronze skin, and the exact figure of a captain he once knew, it wasn't rocket science to put two and two together. Yachiru jumped back onto his shoulder right away and the two had taken off in an impressive burst of speed, the same malicious intent back in the air with the chase renewed. They heard Yachiru squeal something about going back to watch the pretty lights again, but they shrugged it off.

The second after he was gone from sight Kin angrily swatted her fiancé's hand away from her mouth. "Why the hell did you do that!?!"

Under any normal circumstance Kaien wouldn't have really cared who she fought, but this time was different. "This may be our first time to Soul Society, but he came to Hueco Mundo quite a bit before, even if it's been a couple of years since then. You really have no idea who was picking a fight with you, do you?"

Kin rolled her eyes. "If I did, I wouldn't have asked him for his name, now would I?"

"That's Kenpachi Zaraki," Masaki stated simply, "captain of the Eleventh Division and nicknamed 'The Immortal.' He won't fall no matter how much he's cut, and his bloodlust for battle is greater than most Hollows'. He's actually pretty nice, when he isn't trying to kill something so he can 'enjoy fighting' more, as he calls it. Believe me, he's someone you don't want to tangle with if you value your life."

The blonde-haired young woman actually had the sense to look afraid, being that Masaki, the kindest out of all the Kurosaki children, had said everything in the deathliest of seriousness. She tried to recover with grace. "It almost sounds like the princesses are _afraid_ of something, for once."

Tsukiyomi actually _glared_ at Kin, and Kin was so both frightened and shocked that she backed up on impulse. Be that as it may, it was Kaien who said the words her glare conveyed. "Kin, none of us ever said we were fearless, in fact, each of us has a fear greater than almost anything. All of us share the same fear, because even though Ikki is normally mild-tempered, both Tsuki and I can easily change that. Besides, if you'd ever seen him fight, you'd be scared too. The guy simply sees Hierro as the hardness of a person and just _adjusts his strength _to cut through it! Not to mention that with his reiatsu his skin might as well be Hierro!"

Kin gulped.

"Anyways enough of this! This is our first time in Soul Society and we're standing around! Let's go for a jog around Seireitei!" He said happily as he clapped his hands together. Masaki and Tsukiyomi smiled, they knew very well what Kaien meant when he said 'jog.'

"Where should we stop after that?"

"If the fireworks haven't started by then, then let's go to the academy. I wanna see what all goes on there."

They shrugged. "Meh, good enough for me!"

With that, all three shot away from sight, leaving Kin wondering what had happened until her eyes widened in shock. "Hey! Don't leave me here!!"

And she too was gone.

……

Unlike a lot of things in his life, Kaien positively loved this.

The world was frozen around him as he flew past the scenery like a mere static shift in the air. Speed, this was speed. He wanted to go faster, and he knew he could, but if he picked up his pace even a little he would probably lose everyone, _and_ leave behind a whole lot of quasi-clones, but that was beyond the point.

"How do you get anything out of this when you pass it by so quickly?" a voice called out humorously, and he looked beside him in slight shock to see Kin keeping up to him with relative ease. He had to admit, he was impressed.

He tapped the side of his head lightly. "Memory. I'm just getting a layout of the place so I'll know how to get around later. That, and I love this feeling!!" To punctuate that, he leaped with a burst of reiatsu blown from his feet and launched himself into the sky, simply allowing himself to gain altitude and fall at the breakneck speed attained in the fall down his arc. The wind pushing back his hair, pressing against his skin, billowing his clothes, it felt like…freedom. His father was the speed phantom, and his son followed that very closely. His power was supernatural, but his speed was his true strength.

He landed heavily on a white roof and felt the material crack under the impact, but luckily it held firm. He leaned back and inhaled the fresh air hungrily. It was a beautiful day in Soul Society, and no cold like in the Living World. Three shifts in the air were heard behind him and then the sound of light gulps as the others caught their breaths. They weren't really winded, but anyone would be feeling enough of a strain by that time to need larger intakes of air, though for anyone _other_ than them they would likely need more. "Just what I'd expect from the number two track star in middle school!" Kin complimented snottily. "It's almost like we were training to use our powers before we even knew about them!!"

Kaien could feel his eyebrow wanting to twitch in annoyance and fought it off. When they still thought they were normal they had done everything together, and that included sports or other events. Unfortunately, he had never beat her once, and he wasn't even sure he could beat her _now_ if she was completely serious.

His sisters sensed his state, and while fighting off giggles of their own, one of them decided to mercifully change the topic. "This place sure is different! Seems like only captains would be able to see us, because I saw lots of Shinigami though none seemed to see me," Masaki commented idly as she stretched her arms above her head.

"_**What did you expect? We weren't trained by an amateur."**_ Masaki just shrugged indifferently in response, though remembering who their teacher was was always a delight for the orange-haired girl.

"Where are we?" Kin asked out of curiosity.

For the first time since they stopped Kaien finally took the time to look around. Something about the scenery seemed…familiar. The wood catwalks on the buildings around him almost resonated with the footsteps of time gone by, and the very atmosphere around him seemed to welcome him back into its embrace like a lost child that had returned home.

He…knew this place.

"Why is this…so familiar?" he muttered breathlessly, and a sharp inhalation beside him clued him in to some kind of discovery. He turned around to see it had been Masaki to take that harsh gasp, and she was turned away from them looking up at one of the taller towers they had jumped over to get to where they currently were. Instead of doing the stupid thing and asking, Kaien simply looked up to see what she had found so breathtaking.

His slim, seductive eyes widened to twice their natural size and his breathing stopped completely. His pupils were mere pinpricks in the incredible yellow light surrounding them as they looked up at the tower, one which unlike the others, had a marking on it.

The Division Thirteen Symbol. Their headquarters.

A hand went to the side of his head almost instantaneously, almost as if it was trying to get a physical grip on the torrent of pure memory that assaulted his mind. He remembered. His old life... he remembered. He remembered talks with Ukitake, his rejection of the lieutenant position, drinking with Kiyone and Sentaro, him constantly being reminded of his great accomplishments at the academy.

With that more came: academy training, Kidou spells, incantations, explosives creation, hand movements; his body remembered everything about wielding Nejibana, his first time hearing her voice, the way she sang as she flowed around his wrists and hands, purifying everything in her wake with her crystalline water.

His hand tightened and clawed, his own ears unhearing of everyone's surprise. Still he remembered. He remembered his pride at showing his younger sister and brother his impressive new rank, even if it was taken under less-than-amicable circumstances. Again, his eyes widened and he fell to his knees, both from the mental shock and the lightheadedness his hyperventilating was imposing on him. He had almost completely forgotten about them until now.

Kuukaku, Ganju. Siblings from a life gone by, family to a brother reborn again as the oldest sibling. Family _both_ still alive. He remembered Ganju's stupid grins, his pride at having such an impressive older brother. Decades had gone by since that time, a century even, how much had the little boy changed he wondered? He remembered Kuukaku's fiery spirit, as explosive as the fireworks they all made; her raging green eyes, as beautiful as emeralds dazzling in the light of the sun, just as they did under the bright flashes of fireworks in the clear night skies. Had she changed too? How badly had his death affected them both?

The thought was fleeting, as more and more memories rushed past him, guided through Nejibana in a current that was almost too much to handle; yet he knew without her that 'almost' would not have been there. He kept remembering: Rukia's induction, her sad and potentially prissy attitude spawned from a family she was trying desperately to please. Training with her, encouraging her, watching her grow, seeing the pure innocence her charade of nobility had tried to hide release in Sode No Shirayuki's attacks. With that came more, more yet: a white blade, a beautiful white blade pushing through glass and sickly water, a snow white savior from the beast that had tarnished his body, the body that had gladly died trying to avenge his lost love.

Lost love. His tightening hand stopped completely as tears fell from his eyes without his knowledge. _He_ wasn't crying, it was the man's soul reborn that was shedding tears. Miyako. His wife, Kaien Shiba's wife. He remembered; he remembered their meeting, their dates, their first kiss, her incredible patience and kind spirit, lesser only to Retsu Unohana—Ukitake now. Her gentle eyes, compassionate smile, the kimono she had worn on their wedding day. His mind remembered everything, even their nights of passion where all he could see was her, warmth radiating from her every pore.

Kin.

Then he remembered Kin. _His_ wife, Kaien Kurosaki's wife, the love of his life and arguably the woman that had held his heart since he was four years old, even if he hadn't known it at the time. To the three around him he seemed to undergo a polar change, as his quick breathing seemed to return to normal at an unhealthy, if not inhuman speed. Kin. He not only had a mother and father, with three sisters who loved him, but he also had a family of his own, a woman that time and again had shown her unconditional love for him. It only made sense that she deserved the same.

Memories were what they were: memories, things from the past. He may hold knowledge inside him that put him on a different playing field than everyone his age, and privy to personal knowledge of two he had all but raised, but if he were to interact with them again it would be as Kaien Kurosaki, not their brother. That didn't stop him from wanting to see them again though.

With one long, shuddering breath, Kaien returned to his feet and wiped the tears that had fallen of their own volition. When he tightened his hand he really felt it, it was _his_ hand. Though he may not have a good grip on his other memories, and he had no idea what could trigger them again, he felt he was on a good road to grasping that end now. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see the woman he had been thinking of standing beside him, looking at him with only understanding flooding her catlike eyes.

"Are you okay now?"

In response he did what he hadn't done since that morning: he took her in his arms and kissed her senseless. When he pulled away and took in her unfocused eyes, he was more assured than ever before. She never ceased to do wonders to his ego, even if at times those wonders involved showing him she was nothing to laugh at either. "I've never felt better."

"Obviously," she croaked contently as she tried to stay steady on her feet.

"Let me show you around, I'm sure no-one would mind since it's the day after Christmas. They're probably all at home drunk anyways!" he laughed as he started walking over to the nearest catwalk.

"Show us around? You mean here?"

He turned around and raised an eyebrow that clearly conveyed, 'what else could I be talking about?' before he turned back and motioned his hand for them to follow. It took Kin a few steps before she remembered what he had said back when he had first received Nejibana. Kaien _Shiba_ had been the _Lieutenant_ of the Thirteenth Division under Jyushiro Ukitake, of course he would know his way around the division headquarters, as long as no changes had been made naturally. She had never thought too seriously about his previous life before, he was Kaien Kurosaki and always would be Kaien Kurosaki to her, but the fact that he knew so much about a place he himself had never been to before was… disconcerting at best.

As they followed him through the halls he walked with confidence, calmly explaining what went on where and pointing out any object of interest along the way. He had absolute assurance in what he was saying and where he was going, even though more than once they had had to maneuver around unconscious bodies and sake bottles in certain rooms. Apparently there had been Christmas parties sometime the night before, or most likely through the night since. It felt good to be back here, Kaien could sense that with every fiber of his being. The familiarity in what was once a strange place was greatly relieving, though he could see the trepidation momentarily cross Kin's eyes every now and then when he once again explained something he should have no knowledge of. He couldn't stop the memories if he tried, so he thought he might as well explain what he was seeing to the others as well.

As they neared a certain area of the headquarters, loud, boisterous voices thick with the effects of alcohol could be heard through the walls. Kaien was sure he knew a couple of them, but he just couldn't place them. He slid the door opened and the stench of sake was almost overpowering, and apparently there were quite a few members that had managed to last the night, and most were _still_ drinking. Two in particular caught his attention, probably because they were easily the loudest out of the entire bunch. One was a woman with dirty-blonde hair, and the other was a strange man with black hair sporting a headband around his forehead, and a rather odd device of white ropes over his shihakushou.

"Ah'm tellin' ya Shentaro, Ishane's kid'sh lookin' mowe wike hish dad evewy day!!" she exclaimed drunkenly as she slammed back another dish of sake. "It wash great shpendin' Chrishtmash wi't 'em, and great ta come back ta a partah like thish!!"

The man drinking beside her was no better off when it came to blood-alcohol content and he whooped in agreement, which made Kaien plug his ears before they went into another sake-induced bout of 'who could scream the loudest.' Kiyone, Sentaro, he knew them all right. Honestly, the two were like a couple of children fighting over whose father could beat whose. The memories hit him without warning, and he found the words escaping his mouth before he even knew what he was saying.

"S-So annoying!! You two are always so annoying when you're drunk!!" he shouted irritably, and promptly slammed his hands over his mouth in a mortified expression of disbelief. He couldn't believe he had just done that. That had been his other self's memories, without doubt.

The two in question stopped dead, like their minds couldn't believe what their ears had just heard. All the chatter of the room seemed to die as one by one the people turned to see who had dared enter their party with a sober mind. Through the sake hindering their thought processes and their bodies' coordination, the final two both turned their heads to the source of the noise with incredibly wide eyes.

"Thish ish shome shtrong booze Kiyone, Ah cud shwear Ah'm seein' Kaien…"

Kiyone rubbed her eyes in some futile attempt to see better through her inebriated sense of sight. "Ya know I think I see him too…" It was amazing how much better her speech became when she was actually trying, or maybe the sight of someone she long knew to be dead had killed whatever buzz she might have gained. She must have developed some inhuman kind of tolerance to alcohol over the years for that to be possible, though Kaien wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case.

Though Kaien was slightly scared that they might put two and two together faster than he wanted, or more accurately: didn't want, in this place he couldn't stop his old memories, and right now he found himself getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about what Captain Ukitake must have had to put up with after his…Kaien _Shiba's_, death. With him still being sick at the time, that meant the person taking care of the division would be…

_No way in hell…_he realized with growing annoyance. _Them…? What on earth did Ukitake do in a past life to deserve _that_?_

Just the thoughts of the disasters the Thirteenth Division must have gone through under their direction caused his blood to boil, and here they were more intoxicated than he'd ever thought he'd ever see them, and that was no small feat. They _did_ have reason he supposed, being that it was the day after Christmas, so punishing them now seemed wrong.

Later though…

He grit his teeth to fight off his incredible urge to drown them both in Nejibana's water and slammed the door he was standing in front of before running off, surprising the other three women that had been following him. He ran out the nearest exit he knew of and kept running until he knew he was a safe distance away, not like those two would have been able to keep up in their condition anyways. He knew the others would be able to keep up though, he hadn't made the effort to be _that_ fast without warning. He just…needed to be away from there for a little while now. To be absolutely honest, he wasn't completely sure what he would have done had he stayed any longer.

At the very _least_, it would have taken a few weeks to dry the place out.

"_**Where to now, genius? Wasn't exactly the most graceful exit I've ever seen."**_ A voice asked from behind him, and he could hear the mirth and sarcasm ringing in his sister's voice.

"Anywhere but here."

"_**The academy it is then,"**_ she concluded right away. At his surprised double-take the two beside Tsukiyomi laughed.

"Come on Kai, it wasn't brain surgery. You said you wanted to check it out anyway, so what better time than now?" Masaki said with her mother's patented grin on her face.

Kaien grinned right back and rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Sure, why not?"

……

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The loud shout practically shook the room itself. Inside aforementioned room stood a few individuals: one rather calm Genryuusai Yamamoto, one furiously-fighting-to-keep-her-anger-in-check Retsu Ukitake, and then there was also one _openly_ pissed, not-at-all-fighting-to-keep-_anything_-under-control Ichigo Kurosaki, beside his wife, who herself was in a similar state. As per usual, out of those mentioned people there was only one who would have done that—two, had her chemical balance not been out-of-whack at the moment, but that was beside the point—and said maker of that outburst was now heaving over the heavy oak desk in the First Division's captain's quarters, barely restraining the black coating over his eyes like the an oil spill.

"As I said, Captain Kurosaki, if you wish to press any kind of charges against Captain Kurotsuchi than you had best fill out all the proper paperwork and wait until Center Forty-Six has come to an agreement on the issue," the aged commander stated again with his usual authority.

"Like hell I will!! I'm not about to give that maniac any more time to plot whatever-the-hell he can think of to hurt Hanatarou or Nemu!!" He shouted as he slammed his fist down on the desk, and the resounding _crack_ spoke all too well as to the newfound structural integrity, or rather lack thereof, of the antique desk.

Yamamoto slammed his cane down on the floor, and Ichigo actually flinched back at the sound as the ancient commander calmly stared him down. "You have been granted the title of Captain, and have been able to use that authority as you have seen fit for the past twenty years. This _does_ give you the special authority to discipline lower ranking members of other squads, considering that any member of any squadron can be picked for your squad on a short-term basis." Ichigo raised his finger and tried to start in to the explanation, but he was cut off immediately. "_However!_ This does _not_ give you any power to try and pull rank on a member of equal status. Captain Kurotsuchi was indeed wrong in his handling of the Fourth Division's seventh-seat, Hanatarou Yamada, and with the forms filled out he will be dealt with accordingly. Keep in mind though that Lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi is fully under his jurisdiction, and could be handled in whatever way the Captain saw fit, therefore she does not fall under any notion of disciplinary action against her captain."

The sound of Ichigo's teeth grinding together could be heard without fail.

"I strongly object to this," Retsu said, and her willpower could be seen in how her voice failed to rise above its usual level even though that was what she wanted to do, for the first time in her life. "My seventh-seat was found beaten and near death all because of Captain Kurotsuchi's actions. Had he not gone to where he was found there is little doubt as to his life expectancy, and had he not been with the Lieutenant to help her she would have surely met the same fate far before him. Discipline is one thing, but the attempted murder of them and their unborn child is another matter altogether!"

After a long and terse silence, those in which even she had felt the urge to rub her hands together nervously not unlike her seventh-seat usually did under her superior's intense gaze, the bald man sighed heavily. "I do agree with you Captain," he admitted, and her gaze lifted only long enough for him to sigh again. "Yet Center Forty-Six would not see it that way. Both members are in fact alive and well, and we have only recently filled the vacant Captain positions after all this time, not to mention the fact that the Center Forty-Six itself was just reestablished. Court-Marshalling a captain at this time would be very difficult, but other punishments can be enforced if the proper channels are taken."

Both Ichigo and Tatsuki seemed to breathe easier under the very logical explanation that had been given. Being that they had been away for so long—and before that even they had never really paid attention to the internal workings of Soul Society—the answers they had been given had never occurred to them before.

"Can I at least ask that Nemu be transferred to my squad for a longer term? I want to make sure she's well out of that bastard's hands until she's had her baby, at the very _least._ She shouldn't even be on duty in that condition in the first place!"

The old man gave a gentle smile that crinkled his squinted eyes even more than they already were. "I had the feeling you would request that. I already have the forms printed out for you."

At that, Ichigo gave the first genuine smile he had made since coming to Soul Society hours earlier, and possibly only the second genuine smile he had ever made to anyone in Seireitei. "You're not bad, Old Man. Thanks," he said as he grabbed the forms the Captain Commander had put out on the cracked desk and turned to walk away, being sure he didn't make Tatsuki rush herself of course.

He opened the door for her and as she walked out he turned back to the other to occupants of the First Division's Captain's quarters. "You do realize this doesn't change a thing though, right? As soon as I've got Nemu and Hanatarou safe and sound I'm _going_ to make sure that science retard gets what's coming to him," he sang in a sickly sweet voice. "Thanks again Old Man Yama, I'm going to follow my heart instead of my head again, but hey, that's what you gave me this handy little thing for isn't it?" he finished, and flapped his captain haori with an evil grin.

And with that, he walked out and slammed the door, which caused Retsu to flinch slightly at the loud sound.

Yamamoto sighed deeply as he slumped back into his chair. "I did indeed say that, didn't I?" he asked the other captain present as he regarded her with one eye open.

For once, Retsu Ukitake felt no need to restrain the joyful smile that broke out over her face, and the sweet nature of the gesture wasn't forced at all, though one could question the other, darker, emotion that was present there as well.

"Yes sir, I do believe you did."

Even after all the time that had gone by, it would seem that Ichigo Kurosaki's mission hadn't changed. Just like his fight against Byakuya Kuchiki, his real enemy wasn't the one in tangible form, no, it was the very laws of Soul Society itself. One thing _had_ changed though.

Paperwork first, ass-kicking later.

……

**Author's Notes:** I can only blame the delay on forgetfulness, sorry guys. I'll have the next chapter up in the next couple days as compensation. Don't hesitate to tell me about this chapter in the meantime! I always look forward to it! Thanks everyone for your continued reviews and I hope you keep enjoying the story!


	19. Pride On The Blade

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**Pride On The Blade**

**.**

Whether it was lack of foresight or just plain forgetfulness was up for debate, but the one thing they did know when they stepped into the entrance of the academy was that they were all idiots. Judging from the way tumbleweeds—of all things—seemed to dance along their path for no apparent reason, meant one of two things. Either they were on the set of an Old West movie…or the place was deserted.

Smart.

It was the day after Christmas and they had thought the academy would be in session. What allowed that giant oversight none of them really knew, but it did put a bit of a wrench into their plans. The deadpan silence hung in the air around them as if mocking them for their stupidity until finally, one of them broke the awkwardness around them.

"So…anyone have any other ideas? If you don't mind me stating the obvious, I don't think anyone'll be in there today," Masaki said, as kindly as she could without looking disappointed…or breaking out laughing. Tsukiyomi rolled her eyes; she wasn't even going to dignify that statement with words.

"When you think about it though there would still have to be people left in the dorms, right? A few may have family, or what they call family, but a lot of them probably enrolled so they wouldn't have to live alone anymore. I can't see _all_ of them leaving for Rukongai when their lives are so much more comfortable in the dorms," Kin stated after going through all the rational conclusions in her genius mind.

It took a little while for someone to respond after that, but eventually, "Sounds like fun, but it wouldn't work. Us three are girls, and there's only one guy. Even if there _are_ still people in the dorms, they'd be in their separate buildings since I don't think Soul Society has relaxed enough for co-ed dorms. Can't have one person without a 'buddy' now, can we?"

Tsukiyomi smiled devilishly. _**"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Masaki. It's the day after Christmas, I wouldn't be surprised if a few couples spent the night together. After all the full-ranking Soul Reapers started going at it like there's no tomorrow, I don't think too many of the recruits would pay very much attention to any rules regarding relationships."**_

Kaien laughed and rubbed under his nose boyishly. "Ever the realist, eh Tsuki? Of course I agree with you, but only you could sum it up so nicely!"

Tsukiyomi merely flicked some of her brilliant white hair out of her face and smiled smugly. She really was going to be a knockout when she grew older. Just then a butterfly as black as the young woman's sclera and marked with beautiful violet details landed soundlessly on her shoulder. She stiffened for a moment just out of surprise but soon the Hell Butterfly had fluttered back to wherever it came from.

She harrumphed in annoyance. _**"Guess that explains why it's been so quiet. That was Dad, he said he's got some paperwork to do for a while before he goes and wastes that screw-up. He says it's gonna be a few days at least with all the rest of the crap that's been piling up."**_

Her older brother whistled softly at the information. "Geez, if I didn't know any better I'd think Soul Society _wanted_ him to beat the living crap out of that captain. Giving him _paperwork_ of all things to do before he can do what he really wants to? They _want_ him angry or something?"

Masaki smiled. "It looks that way; either that or they still don't understand Dad."

To their surprise, another Hell Butterfly soon passed their eyes and this time it landed on Kin's outstretched finger, done in anticipation of the intended target. She seemed confused for all of a second before her eyes widened slightly and the silent messenger took off again.

"What was that?"

The bronze-skinned youth scratched her neck. "That was your mom asking me to do something with her. She said it'll take a few days too, so I guess I'll be gone for a little while." She saw Kaien take a step forward and open his mouth, but he soon bit his tongue. Her eyes softened. She didn't want to be away from him any more than he wanted to be away from her, but this was something she couldn't refuse. "She says you'll be staying at the Squad Thirteen headquarters, so to head there when you're tired and Captain Ukitake'll show you to your rooms. Your dad should get there too eventually, but she says not to wait up. She and I won't be coming back for a few days at least and under no circumstances are you to look for us." Kin scratched the side of her head this time. "She also said something about 'if you do, remember Kon,' whatever that means." She soon realized it to be a threat, because the faces of all the Kurosaki children had turned white, or in Tsukiyomi's case: whiter.

Even with the impressive threat, Kaien still desperately didn't want her to go. It was like he knew the moment she was out of his senses he was going to die of loneliness. He had promised himself he wouldn't smother her though, he wasn't going to be overbearing or overprotective, he had to let her live outside of him. He was being selfish, he knew that, and that was why he knew he needed to step away from this one. It was harder than he had ever thought it would be.

Kin's graceful form was soon right in front of him and she tiptoed up to steal a kiss from his unprepared lips before she hugged him just as unexpectedly and pulled away. "Thank you. I'll make it up to you, I promise." And just like the wind, she was gone.

Kaien stood shell-shocked for a few seconds after that, and his sisters had the sense of mind to pity him. They knew better than anyone how long he had waited for her, and after finally having her, it wasn't going to be easy for someone with Hollow blood to relinquish that hold, however lightly. Already they could hear the gentle whispers of Nejibana, trying to soothe the aching heart of her partner. Without her, they didn't think he would have even been able to pull off the strained smile moments later.

"I think I'm heading back to the headquarters, how about you?" he asked in a tone somewhere between kind and forced.

"We'll come too, more to do there than here that's for sure!"

Another strained smile, another gentle whisper, and once more the three took off.

………

Kin landed on the dusty ground and looked around, slightly stunned at the resemblance to the area she had known all her life hidden underneath her family's store. It was just as impressive as the one she had grown up knowing, and the idea of her being here for three days was exhilarating. More so because of the memories she had forged in the one that looked so like the one she was currently standing in.

Her chest constricted unexpectedly and she put a hand to her breast without thinking. Just two nights ago she and her fiancé had shared their first experience together in a place much like this one, and though it wasn't the first time they had been apart for an extended period of time, it seemed like every part of her ached to be back with him, even though she couldn't have been gone for more than ten minutes. It was both painful _and_ invigorating. She loved him so much it hurt, and she wasn't bothered by that one bit.

"Don't worry, it'll get easier eventually," a voice consoled wisely, and when Kin looked over she saw Tatsuki Kurosaki walking towards her.

She resisted the urge to shuffle her feet. "W-What are you talking about?"

Tatsuki put a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "My reiatsu sensing ability's nothing to laugh at, I know exactly what you're feeling right now. Even after over twenty years together it still gets me when I'm away from Ichigo too long. If Yoruichi hadn't asked me personally I don't think he would have even allowed me to leave!" She laughed at that, and Kin joined in, to a lesser degree. "But hey, it gives us some time for some girl talk. It's been a while since I've gotten the chance to hang around with just another woman. I'm still Mom to my girls so it'll be a bit longer before I can have this kind of experience with them."

Kin smiled fondly. Some of her best memories of the closest two years past were the times her mother and her trained and talked together. The time when it got to the point where she could call her mother a mentor and possibly even a rival instead of _just_ 'Mom' was when she truly felt like she was improving. Having that kind of acknowledgment from a parent was indescribable. The downside was back then she had been obsessed with hating Kaien, but that seemed so ridiculous to her now she could hardly believe she had ever felt that way. Those five years were a painful yet very real part of their relationship.

"We'll start tomorrow at dawn. You'll want all the time you can get during the day, so today you should start readying yourself for what's to come. It won't be easy; after all, this method has only worked for two people in the entire span of its creation."

The Shihouin heir's eyes sparkled dangerously. "If I want to keep up with him it's something I'll need, so there's no way I'm backing down!"

Tatsuki chuckled. "Your mother thought as much. Take your time, and we'll have something to eat in a couple of hours. There're some long days ahead."

Of that there was no doubt. As the two women sat down and started talking about anything and everything as Kin tried her best to center herself, already the time ticked by.

And off to the side sat a white doll, a golden medal with two equally gold ropes attached thrown over the opposing shoulder, glittering from the chest of the faceless cut-out.

Day One commenced tomorrow.

………

Kin got as much sleep as she was able to, considering she was deprived of both a soft warm bed and her six-foot-two pillow. She was used to sleeping on the ground however, she and her parents had gone on multiple training exercises that required overnight stays and they had wanted her to get used to the concept. Since that was the case, that meant her main problem had been the latter part of her two excuses. She silently cursed, but she wasn't about to let that hinder what she was going to do today, and likely for the next two days after as well.

She wasn't hopeful enough to even think she could do it in just two.

Tatsuki was stretching over to her right and from the corner of her eye she could see the white doll next to her, seemingly glaring at her in anticipation. She had met her zanpakutou many times before, but she had never gotten her to materialize. She had been too busy perfecting Shunkou for that, but that didn't mean she had never relied on her before. Her zanpakutou made the use of Kidou twice as deadly as it already was, and with Shunkou activated her sword strengthened even more. It was strange, how a close-range fighter had a long-range weapon, but it suited her style in an oddly comfortable way. She was balanced nicely with those two skills at her disposal, and unlike most it meant she could fight either without any major changes to her technique. She had the feeling she was going to be pushed to the limits of her expertise in the following days, because she was essentially fighting someone who knew everything she did and more.

The black-haired woman picked up the long rope extending from the doll and sat the doll on its feet in front of her. "Well, I think it's time we started. Whenever you're ready."

Kin gulped one last time before steeling herself and stabbing the point of her zanpakutou into the creation in front of her. There was no explosion of light, no earth-shaking _bang_, just a near-silent _tink_ as the doll exploded into a myriad of spirit particles. Tatsuki knew she shouldn't have been surprised by the appearance of the zanpakutou spirit, but she was nonetheless. A voluptuous woman stood where the doll once had, her pale skin glowing in the bright light of the artificial scenery.

Blood red hair flowed from her head in waves, and her hard crimson eyes spoke of a warrior unaffected by her noticeable beauty. Her tight white shirt and red leather pants left every curve and muscle open to appreciation while her knee-high flats gave off the impression of dominance the woman seemed to exude naturally. Zanpakutous could be characterized by two common traits: pride and power. She was taller than Kin by a good three inches and unlike Nejibana, there didn't seem to be a caring bone in her body at first glance.

The ex-tomboy gave a gulp of her own before sitting down and settling against the rock face behind her. This wasn't her place to intercede, this was Kin's battle.

Benitenchi cracked her neck and threw some rebellious strands of hair behind her head as she walked towards her partner. She could tell Kin was trying her best to stay relaxed—for the time being—but she was ready to move at a moment's notice. She inwardly applauded her alertness, but she didn't have attacking in mind right then. She stopped in front of her and looked down into the bright golden eyes staring back at her without fear. When she raised her hand she saw the young girl's facial muscles twitch, as if fighting off the urge to dodge the undoubtedly soft gesture. Taking her lack of movement as a cue to continue, Benitenchi ran a hand down the side of the bronze-skinned woman's face like a mother would her daughter.

"I won't hold back," she warned seriously. Zanpakutous in their nature were inescapably tied to their partner's very spirit, and as such when one feels an emotion the other can rarely _not_ do the same. Like her, she too was in love, and since Kaien was both physical and yet his very existence was a zanpakutou, she had experienced everything Kin had. "If you want me to submit you have to will with every fiber of your being for me to do so. You can't be encumbered by anything; not pride, not humility, not love or hate. You will come at me as hard as you can, and until that time comes you will not be able to use Shunpo or Kidou. I've taken away those abilities until you wish with everything you have to be able to defeat me.

"The will to fight is something that has never been defined in you, and until you find that you won't be able to make me submit." The taller woman backed away and entered a Karate stance, uncaring of Kin's shocked face at realizing her greatest assets had just been thrown to the wind. Her soft expression hardened as her red eyes glared into her partner. "Now come at me!!"

So the battle against the Crimson Angel began.

…….

Jyushiro Ukitake might not have been the smartest of the smart, but he was bright enough to realize that something was going on; especially considering half of his squad was hidden in the foliage surrounding the training grounds of their division. When everyone had sobered up the next day after the Kurosaki's arrival, there had been a good deal of disbelief and even more shock when the oldest child of that family walked in to greet their captain.

Kiyone had burst into tears and thrown herself at him, and the normally loud and boisterous Sentaro had gone completely and utterly silent taking in the sight before him. In Soul Society there were many things beyond _human_ comprehension, but it wasn't often that they met something beyond even _their_ comprehension.

The ground rumbled beneath his feet, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that his squad members were watching someone train. He could hear the rustling of leaves and knew they had become aware of his presence, and if _he_ could hear them than there was no doubt in his mind that whoever was down there had already done the same. He reached the outcropping overlooking the valley and tried not to look surprised.

Tsukiyomi and Masaki Kurosaki were fighting like two Hollows fighting over a Whole, and had he not known them personally he would have thought they wanted to kill each other. They were certainly a sight to see, flashing around the valley with swords drawn and reiatsu flaring. He had only seen it momentarily before it had called out an impossibility, but he now saw Masaki fighting in her full Vizard mode. Some might have thought it was because of the intensity of the battle, but Ukitake knew better. She just wanted her other side to have a little more time out in reality.

It was when he looked over did he realize who everyone was looking at. Kaien Kurosaki was dancing shirtless in the mid-morning light, but this kind of dance wasn't meant for a wooden floor. No, for the black-haired young man was holding a crystalline weapon in his nimble hands. It could only be described as a dance, because there was hardly any time between one move and the next. Even when the trident's head struck ground and rattled the area with yet another lake, it was easily spun back up and quickly gained momentum again. Sweat coated his rippling muscles and dripped down his body with every movement, but he showed no signs of slowing. He was an impressive specimen of a male, even Jyushiro could admire that, but Kaien's fiercely focused face betrayed there was something haunting the young man.

Jyushiro sighed. He was exactly like his father. If something was troubling him, if he wanted to escape or just plain vent, he would always fight or train. It would appear that that was a genetic trait that ran in the family. "Kiyone! Sentaro!"

Instantly, the two people he had called were bowed behind him. "Yes sir!" they both said simultaneously.

He sighed. They followed him around like puppies, he didn't even need to check anymore. "How long has he been at it?" Why would he ask such a question? That would be because the place he was continually striking had gained the volume of a large body of water, nothing a mere one strike could achieve. The change in landscaping was beautiful, but that was beyond the point right then.

"Sir! He started after lunch yesterday, sir!" Sentaro yelled, and to Jyushiro's surprise Kiyone didn't immediately get into a screaming match with him.

Instead, she seemed rather sullen. "He hasn't stopped once, no matter how hard I tried to get him to eat something…"

He sighed again and put his palm to his forehead. _Yes, he's exactly like his father._ "Okay Kiyone, I'll go down and check on him. Just stay here." It seemed the spitting image that actually _was_ the reincarnation of their former superior officer was having an unexpected effect on his division. Not that he was surprised, he had affected _him_ too.

The captain straightened his robes and jumped down the large cliff to the area below, and when the people present sensed him coming they stopped their fighting. Kaien gave one last thrust and poured even more water into the large lake, before planting the screw-like end of his trident into the ground and trying not to glare as the captain approached. His breathing was coming in heavy gulps and his chest pumped with each intake. He knew his body wasn't at its limit yet, but hunger was getting the better of him. At least it took his mind off Kin. It had taken everything he had not to rush out in a panic when he felt her reiatsu disappear, but the flux he had felt before that was definitely one of his mother's many barrier Kidou. He looked at the oncoming captain with half-interest, and Ukitake had his ever-present happy-go-lucky smile on his face.

"Hey everyone, how's it going?"

Tsukiyomi merely nodded her head in greeting, and Masaki dispelled her mask and waved her hand at him as if trying to tell him to let her catch her breath before she gave a response. Kaien shrugged as he wiped his forehead. "It's going."

Ukitake gave an amused glance over at the lake behind him. "I can see that. Were you planning on turning the training area into a vacation spot?" he joked lightly, but Kaien didn't seem amused, even though his sisters weren't of the same persuasion.

"Soul Society is lacking in their lakes, that's for sure!" Masaki chirped in, and Tsuki giggled only long enough to realize she had just giggled. The lack of any kind of digital entertainment might have gotten the best of them, but they had had worse in Hueco Mundo. It had taken time to get used to, but eventually they didn't even miss the modern conveniences.

"True enough," the captain conceded with a smile. "With a little sand even _I_ wouldn't mind coming here more often."

Something happened to Kaien's face at that statement, and everyone around him could see it. He grimaced painfully as if feeling something no one else could, and then a few seconds later he was back to normal, though his face had become oddly determined. "Step back please."

They did so more out of surprise than anything else, and were even more surprised when Kaien jumped to the cliff side and spun his foot on the dirt. His face was dazed, like even he couldn't understand what he was doing. He danced along the grass, ever so often spinning his hand or foot on a particular area, until he had reached the opposing cliff side and jumped back in front of them. With no warning he went onto one knee and slammed his hands flat down on the ground with a cry of, "Sebba!"

Ukitake recognized the unique incantation right away, and that shock was only lessened by the shock that came from watching the ground ripple in front of them like waves of the newly formed lake they were looking at. The ripple continued under the water until it couldn't be seen anymore, and it finally seemed to complete at some point, because soon the grassy expanse in front of the water seemingly evaporated and soft sand replaced it just like the magic it was.

Tsukiyomi and Masaki were speechless. They had never seen or even heard of anything like that before, and their brother had _never_ done anything like that, ever. It seemed like Kidou, but it definitely wasn't, most noticeably because it had no number. _What_ it was then they had no idea, but they had seen what it could do firsthand. It didn't have many applications, but in conjunction with Kidou it could definitely be used for battle.

And hey, Kaien had just made a beach. They were hot and sweaty from training, and that seemed like a perfect way to cool off. They didn't have any responsibilities for the time being, so they thought they might as well enjoy themselves.

"_**Heh, we should've brought our swimsuits along."**_ The white-haired teen chuckled.

Jyushiro smiled benevolently. "Talk to Retsu, I'm sure the Women's Association has brought back a few items from the Living World. You look like you could use the rest."

"Thanks Captain Ukitake!" Masaki beamed, and then took of running for the Fourth Division.

Tsukiyomi bowed ever so slightly. _**"Thank you, Captain."**_

The older man grinned embarrassedly. "Don't mention it, Ichigo asked me to keep an eye on you three while they're working anyways." She simply nodded again before taking off after her sister. Jyushiro chuckled and clucked his tongue before turning back to Kaien, who was still staring at his hands in wonder. "I honestly can't see who she takes after. I've never seen either of your parents so calm and composed."

That got a reluctant laugh from the young man he was looking at. "Believe me, you wouldn't like it if she wasn't. I'm sure I don't have to explain any further, you should know."

Ukitake sighed yet again and nodded. "Sometimes I wonder how Shinji and the others were able to survive so long. I know if that had ever happened to me before I met your father I probably wouldn't have been able to go through with it. How are they by the way?"

"They're just fine. They're all busy keeping Uncle Shinji and Aunt Hiyori's little boy occupied. He's got some scary talent, but it's just a matter of time before his Hollow awakens. Hopefully he'll be old enough to understand by then; it's pretty much guaranteed he's going to be a Vizard since both his parents are. Uncle Kensei and Aunt Mashiro finally came out about their relationship, but I guess it was more like she kind of blurted it out in one of her excited rambles. I swear Aunt Hiyori almost had a heart attack!"

Jyushiro laughed. That had been a long time coming. "And how are _you?_"

Kaien flinched and sheathed a now reverted Nejibana. "I've been better."

"I can see that. How about we go get something to eat, I'm sure you'd like to know what's happened to the squad since our Lieutenant died, if not just to quiet your other memories' curiosity."

"You know…I think I'd like that. Then maybe we can talk some people into going swimming; God knows I could use it."

"Kiyone's been worried about you, you know."

The young man pushed his hair back out of his eyes with a sigh. "I know."

"She's been trying to get you to eat for a while."

Another sigh. "I know."

"Do you mind if she comes with us? I don't think she's eaten either. Sentaro's been following me around like always, but I couldn't sense her until I came here. I don't think she's let you out of her sight since she first saw you."

"I know, I could sense her too. She obviously hasn't absorbed it all yet, heck, even _I_ have a hard time with it!"

"Lunch would be a good way for her to come to that realization. Besides, you'd be lucky if you found her too far away from Sentaro unless she's off-duty. It'd be a good chance to talk without them both together."

Yellow eyes turned to regard the captain with a mischievous sparkle. "Just promise there'll be no sake."

Jyushiro laughed and patted the young man on the back. "So you _do_ remember!" He laughed again. "Don't worry, she won't be drinking unless she wants to be on desk duty for the next two months!"

Kaien chortled. "Oh sheesh, I already feel sorry for the administrators! Trying to read _her_ handwriting? I guess that's going to be two months of Squad Thirteen history that'll be lost forever!"

"You wouldn't want to see the reports for the last few decades then! She and Sentaro had a lot of responsibility on their shoulders."

He sobered up almost instantly. "I don't think I even want to hear about that. I don't even want to think of what the division had to put up with after Kaien's death."

For once, Ukitake just shrugged and grinned. "The Past is done, no use getting all worked up over it now. Everything worked out in the end!" Kaien's stomach growled loudly, and he laughed once more. "Now let's go eat!"

Kaien put on his discarded jacket and turned to the seemingly empty cliff. "Kiyone, you're coming too! Get a move on!"

Finally, some food.

……

"Bloody _hell!!_" Kin hissed as she sunk into the gloriously hot waters of the healing spring in the training area of Soul Society.

It was the end of Day Two and she felt no closer to defeating her zanpakutou than she had the moment she heard she couldn't use Kidou or Shunpo. She had, quite literally, just had her legs cut out from under her.

She spit blood onto the dirt and rinsed her mouth with the medicinal liquid, sighing happily when her swollen cheek and split lip started healing. She felt like she was one giant bruise. Fortunately, or perhaps not, Benitenchi didn't use swords as her way of testing, and that meant death at the end of a blade wasn't going to happen.

Death from blunt force trauma however…

Kin dunked herself underwater to completely saturate herself and ripples in the water cued her in to another arrival. Being that there was only one other person in the entire area, it wasn't too large of a mystery as to who that arrival was. She rose with a gasp of air and flipped her wet hair out of her face to see Tatsuki. They had done this the first day too, so she was used to it now. She had to admit, the woman had an impressive build. Her arms and legs were slim, but they held muscle that solidly defined itself with every movement of the lithe body. Though her belly was expanding as her womb grew to accommodate the growing life within her, there was no doubt as to the strong sinew that resided there, though to a lesser extent now. A little training afterwards and she would be back to full power in no time.

She hadn't noticed it before, since the black shihakushou hid many a curve on any woman who so happened to wear them, but Tatsuki certainly wasn't lacking in the…_upper_ areas either. She knew many girls in her class that would kill to have a chest like that, though the fact that they were growing larger to prepare for lactation had to be taken into account too. The woman had a perfect balance of strength and femininity, and Kin had to respect that in the older woman.

Once she felt like she finally looked like herself again—which of course meant that the water had done its work and soothed the swelling all over her body—she felt like she could start talking again. "Was it this hard for you?" she asked as she slumped against the warm rock of the nearest side.

Tatsuki's relaxed chuckle made Kin feel a moment's urge to punch the woman, but she knew that wasn't the best idea, especially considering her state. "I wasn't crazy enough to try this method. Kouki had been put through a loop by my Hollow from the beginning, but once she realized that we could get even stronger if she allowed our zanpakutou to materialize she did it without a second thought. I know, Kouki is a guy's name, but not too many girls are named Tatsuki either, so I think it worked out nicely. I can assure you it wasn't any easier, if anything I can say that it just gave me more days to end up exactly like you at the end of each one! Kouki's a hand-to-hand fighter too."

Kin winced. "I just can't figure her requirement out! It doesn't make any sense!"

"Sure it does," Tatsuki interjected immediately after, and caused Kin to sputter a little. She hadn't been expecting that. "Think about it: a zanpakutou is the closest person to their partner. They know everything about us, right down to our deepest darkest secret and our greatest weakness. For Ichigo it was resolve: base fighting instinct, so what did Zangetsu ask him to do? Find his fighting spirit, and he found it in the love he had for the people he held dear. Mine? It was my sight.

"Kouki knew the whole reason I had so much pride was because I could see everything coming a mile away, so she took away my eyesight and made me rely on the sensing abilities my Hollow and her gave me. I had been taught to go on my might, on what I could see and what I could _physically_ do to stop it. I couldn't do Shunpo consciously for the longest time because she knew deep down I didn't believe something like that was possible, even when I became a Soul Reaper myself. The only other person who knows this is Ichigo, but there were more than a few days where I cried myself to sleep because I was so frustrated. For being a blind woman herself, she sure loved beating the hell out of me."

She chuckled at the memory, and Kin gave an uneasy laugh. What the hell had the woman in front of her gone through??

"Her Ban release gives me a full suit of her armor, and that includes the head. I can't see a damn thing through my eyes when I use it, but it amplifies my reiatsu sensing abilities to levels that make it possible for me to sense _presences_ in general, and no amount of training can hide that. By taking away my sight she helped me change the way I thought about strengths and weaknesses, and when it was finally done she gave me something better in return. Even when I was in my Soul Reaper body, I still thought of everything through how I knew everything growing up. She forced me to change my thinking to the new reality I had gone into and only then, when I could rely on what I _couldn't_ see and what I had once thought to be impossible, was I able to make her submit. It may seem tough now, but it'll be worth it in the end."

"But I've only got one more day!! If I don't get it tomorrow than I probably won't be able to get it at all!! That's why it's dangerous to continue after three days!" Frustration had set in, and desperation was close behind.

Tatsuki _humphed_ lightly and readjusted her seating. "What do you want me to say? Give up? Stop now and save yourself the trouble? What good would that do? It's exactly like Benitenchi said: you haven't defined your will to fight. You trained relentlessly for five years because you had something pushing you, but once that was taken away you had no reason to fight anymore, didn't you? You and Kaien grew up thinking you were perfectly normal, and you fell in love under the same pretense. You would be perfectly fine living a _normal_ life in your _human_ body as long as he was with you.

"The reason you trained your soul wasn't because you wanted to protect helpless Wholes or even for the sake of destroying Hollows, you trained because you wanted to show the person you had trained with for most of your life that you could be even better than he could be. It wouldn't have mattered if we had moved for him to pursue martial arts training elsewhere while normal; you probably would've done the same thing, just in your physical body. It just happened to be an aspect of you with supernatural powers because you _weren't_ entirely normal to begin with."

"But…" Kin's protests died on her tongue. What _had_ she been fighting for?

"Even now, Kaien's reason for fighting hasn't changed. From the moment you were hurt in that first encounter with a Hollow, I can guarantee you that he promised himself he was never going to allow that to happen again, he's his father's son after all. As long as you're alive it'll remain like that, set in stone. In my opinion, the reason his body required him to have complete control over it in order to gain Bankai was because of his greatest weakness: his blood. Instinctively he knew without that it was going to be impossible to have any kind of relationship with you so that's why he had to do what he did.

"But say, just for the sake of argument, that you two broke up." Kin's face turned ghost white and her glare would have made Ogihci proud, but Tatsuki just laughed. "_For the sake of argument_," she emphasized, "that you two broke up. If that happened his will to fight wouldn't exist anymore, would it? What defined it would be gone. Since he already has Bankai he can't lose it, but say it happened while he was still training to get it. That would change everything wouldn't it? That's not to say he might not still be tested, but the ability would be there nonetheless."

Kin nodded slowly. What she was meaning was finally dawning on her. Her frustration must have made her normally quick mind slow down. "So she's saying… that my fighting doesn't have a reason. It _did_, but now it doesn't. For me to wish that I could defeat her with everything I have would require a reason that stretched beyond just these three days…so _that's_ why!"

Tatsuki nodded. "Now that you have that down, you just need to find it."

Easier said than done.

……

The next day came all too soon in Kin's opinion, and she still had no better idea of what she was fighting for than she had after she had finished talking with Tatsuki last night. What _was_ she fighting for? To get stronger, yes. To keep up with Kaien, yes. Pride explained those easily, and she knew Benitenchi had told her that pride couldn't be involved. What else was there? What other reason could she have for wanting the Ban release?

She stabbed her zanpakutou into the doll for the last time and watched as the physical form of her zanpakutou's spirit replaced the white husk. The exotic redhead stared her down once again with those piercing wine-colored eyes, and her luscious lips still found the ability to look serious, even though she must have been feeling rather smug after beating the crap out of her for the past two days.

"I see you've started to understand. Only when you have a purpose that can truly define what you wish to fight for will your fist be able to defeat me."

"But how can I have that without pride!? Or love, or hate, or anything else for that matter!?" she cried desperately, hoping to get one last clue before the last day began.

"You will know when you find your reason. Your heart is confused, but you _will_ find the needle in the surrounding chaos. You will have to…otherwise I will kill you."

In that one, solitary instance Kin's eyes widened and her blood ran cold. Unlike her parents, there was no doubt in her mind that what this woman said was true. She _would_ kill her. If she died, she'd never be able to see any of her friends again. If she died, she'd never be able to see her parents' faces again. If she died, she would never be…

Realization hit her in the face worse than _any_ of Benitenchi's punches.

If she died…she would never be able to be with Kaien again.

She would never get to see his idiotically grinning face, or hear his hushed voice whispering words of love into her ear as they joined their bodies in a physical manifestation of their love. She wouldn't be able to touch him again, kiss him again, love him again. She...

Her breath caught. She wouldn't be able to keep her promise. She had promised herself that she would never be afraid of him again, that she would stop him if he ever lost control and that she would stay by his side no matter what happened.

If she died here…she wouldn't be able to do that.

The air seemed to crackle with power as Kin's hands balled into fists and she glared heatedly at the woman who had threatened her life, threatened everything she held dear. She was _proud_ of her love, _humbled_ by it, and _hated_ anything that would stand in its way. It was impossible to define in the singular what bubbled up in her, just the overwhelming _resolve_ that burned in her eyes. She took no notice of the white-blue light as it gathered around her, the only thing she saw was the beautiful redhead that had so casually said she would separate her from a vow she had made to the only man she had ever loved. The air around her exploded in a vibrant display of lightning as it sparked from her back and her reiatsu burst out of her body uninhibitedly.

She _would_ defeat her. She _would_ go back to him. She _would not_ let herself die here.

Benitenchi's eyes glowed with warmth and near maternal pride as she watched her partner. _She found it. No…she didn't find it, she always had it, she only needed to remember._ The platinum-blonde hair of her partner was flailing wildly about her head in the chaotic force created by Shunkou, and the reiatsu in the air was more powerful than she had ever felt it before. Finally, she had awakened. Her purpose couldn't be defined by pride, or humility, or love, or even hatred. No, _everything_ she had had to be involved in her sole wish to defeat her. Not just one, but all.

At last, her partner understood that. She needed a purpose that involved _everything._

"Today's your last chance. Either make me submit, or die."

She charged at the young woman glaring at her in classic stance, and before even _she_ knew what had happened three punches had landed and she was thrown back into a nearby mountain punctuated by a blast of dust. Pain shot through her body as she pulled herself out of the hole she had created on impact, but the only thing the spirit found she could do was smile. She could give her full power to this girl, of that she was now sure.

"Never…" Her hypersensitive ears picked up the whispered words from her host without trouble, and she arched an eyebrow as she cautiously moved back into a fighting stance. "I don't care who or _what_ you are, I won't let _anything_ threaten that!!!" Kin screamed angrily, and in the next fraction of a second she had disappeared.

Benitenchi was immediately on the defensive, trying to fend off any of the magic-enhanced strikes that she could. However, in the face of what she had been hoping to awaken, she stood no chance. Just like she had her for the last two days, she was battered left and right with nary a single blow let in against her. She was so angry her attacks didn't relent for a second, and with Shunkou, a second can be as long as an eternity.

Yes, she was trustworthy.

After Kin had given one last punch to the red-haired beauty that had once again launched her into a painful meeting with the side of a cliff, she had to stop to try a catch her breath. She hunched over with her hands on her knees as she tried to gulp in as much air as she could. She couldn't remember feeling this tired before, and she wasn't even allowed to use Shunpo or Kidou. How much time had passed already? She watched, horrified, as out of the dust Benitenchi walked confidently while smiling softly, no injury marring her clothes or flesh.

"How…?" Kin could only gasp out breathlessly.

Then, to her utmost surprise, her zanpakutou's spirit walked up and bent down on one knee in front of her. Magnificent red wings flared out of her back in an indescribable shower of glowing crimson feathers, and her red eyes sparkled with genuine care. She raised her right hand over her chest in the gesture of fealty and smiled up warmly at the confused face looking down on her.

"Kin Urahara-Shihouin, I submit to your resolve. From this day forth you will be able to call out the full extent of my power and I will answer without fail. I too, love him just like you. Keep our promise, I will always be there to lend you strength."

Kin tried, but was unable to fight the tears now trailing down her happy face. "I promise. Thank you."

The Crimson Angel nodded, as if saying 'you're welcome,' before she bowed her head and her fiery wings enveloped her. The feathers dissolved around her, and when they all dispersed the only thing left in her place was the Tenshintai, which fell to the ground lifelessly as the zanpakutou it had materialized returned to her hand. Kin could feel the overwhelming power flow through her as she held her partner in her hand and she tightened her grip. _Thank you. Thank you so much._

She had found her resolve, her pride on the blade.

Tatsuki applauded her loudly as she stood from her place sitting off to the side. "Incredible. What say we take one last dip in the hot springs before we try it out?"

As she wiped the sweat and grime from her forehead, Kin only had one choice. "That sounds great, I'm exhausted."

She would keep her promise.

………

Three days.

THREE. DAYS.

He hadn't known it would hurt so much to be away from her for so long. It hadn't been that large of a problem before, as even if he wanted to, he didn't want to run the risk of burning out. Overindulgence risked later disinterest, and that was the last thing he wanted. Still, this _hurt_. Had he been given the choice of this or getting cut by a twin zanpakutou again, he would have gladly chosen getting cut. This pain dwarfed that like a mountain to an anthill.

He wanted to see her, he wanted to see her so badly.

Not only was he selfish, it was becoming vastly apparent that he was also increasingly needy. He hated using the term to describe himself, but being in medicine and psychology, he knew the designation when he saw it. She was amazing, was it so wrong? He sighed. He already knew the answer to that question. He was plain disgraceful.

He _thumped_ backwards onto the sand and watched the sun set down the lake's horizon, and it was absolutely spectacular. Pinks and oranges painted themselves over the remaining clouds as dark blue hues stained the backdrop of the falling night. The calm waters gently rippled in the evening breeze and the remaining light from the sun danced on the waves in a beautiful mirror image of the sky above. It was a dazzling end to the equally impressive day, but he couldn't help but wish Kin was there with him.

So lost was he in the scenery and his own thoughts that he didn't hear the soft rustle of sand squishing around bare feet approaching him. Leaned back as he was, with his head pillowed in his hands, his peripheral vision was effectively cut down to nothing, so even when he was finally alerted to the other presence near him, he couldn't see anything until that presence had leaned down and crawled up his body like a playful kitten stalking it's prey.

He found himself staring into the most entrancing pair of golden eyes he had ever seen, set against the perfectly sculpted background of tanned flesh and framed by pale yellow silk. She had planted both hands under his armpits and was smiling down on him with the same mischievous grin he had come to know throughout his childhood. God, at that moment her lips had never looked more irresistible.

"Hey," she whispered softly. "Long time no see."

His slim eyes must have been three times their natural size.

_Houston, we have a problem._

To Hell with it. He didn't care that he knew he was needy, he didn't care that he knew he was selfish. The only thing he cared about was that she was back with him. Before his mind had even completed all those thoughts, his arms had already acted on their own and wound around her body, one on her back and one firmly behind the scarf still wrapped so lovingly around her neck. He pushed their lips together with crushing force as he was at last able to taste her again after three and a half days of torment. Her moan as her tongue snaked between their open mouths made everything melt away, and just like that he was lost in her.

God he had missed her.

His blood was boiling within him, but right then he couldn't find enough free brain-cells to care. He had missed her, and now she was back. When their feverish kisses finished before with one last peck she pulled away, Kaien felt infinitely better. She lay down on his chest and the feel of her soft breasts melded against his bare chest was something he would always enjoy, though having her head so comfortably under his chin wasn't anything he would ever complain about either. He wrapped his arms around her and it finally seemed to click that she was back. He never wanted to let go.

"I missed you," he rasped after enjoying the sound of the waves clash with her deep breathing. It was…reassuring.

"I can tell. I missed you too."

He felt like a jerk. He had her love, wholly and unconditionally, and he could barely last four days. He _had_ made it through though, and he knew in order to give her back the same thing he would simply have to bear through it. There was no use putting restrictions on a love like this, otherwise it wouldn't be what it was. When it all boiled down, he wanted her heart more than her body. He wished he knew how to do it like she did, he couldn't even think of one example of her acting selfish.

He didn't know how she made it look so easy if she was.

He kissed the top of her head that he could reach, hoping he wasn't acting weird. He just wanted to hold her forever.

She made a small sound from the back of her throat and put a hand over his. "You know, I'm sure you remember I said I'd make it up to you…"

He looked over to her upturned face and saw the sun setting low in the distance, though it seemed right beside her from his perspective. The vibrant colors were setting the lake aglow, casting the last remnants of light into flickering flames on her platinum-blonde hair while the twin suns that were her eyes looked at him with just as much warmth as the one now falling behind the hills.

Yes, now the sunset was perfect.

His grip around her tightened.

"You are, Kin. You are."

………

**Author's Notes: ***rubs back of head in embarrassment* Sorry everyone, that's all I'm going to say this time. I meant to have this out earlier, I did! *ducks*

Um…please review? It'd be nice, I promise I'll make it up to you guys, I just need to think of how.


	20. Spirits Ain’t Always With Us

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Just for fair warning, this chapter does contain lemon.**

**...  
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**Spirits Ain't Always With Us**

…

It was moments like these Kin Urahara-Shihouin loved. She had no idea how to explain it, she just loved it. His touches weren't even meant to invoke her arousal, no, she knew _those_ touches quite well, but she found herself back on that road from the simplicity of his arms around her after what had seemed like so long.

Maybe it was because she had spent three out of the four days she was gone fighting a zanpakutou spirit, but for some reason she felt like she had been away for so much longer than _just_ four days. It was the evening of the fourth day when she had returned, the last of the three days meant for her Bankai training, and she was tired. Maybe tired wasn't doing it justice: she was _exhausted._ Tatsuki had let her have a better view of her Bankai before they left, but she knew the older woman was just trying to be nice since it was impossible to know where Kaien was without her particular ability.

His deep breathing and slow, steady heartbeat were like a harmony to the melody of falling waves in the background, and she found that her eyes were getting too heavy to keep open. Truthfully, she had thought Kaien was going to jump her the second he saw her again, and she had kind of been looking forward to it after going through Hell day after day with Benitenchi. Coming back to that was something she wouldn't have minded at all. She almost wished she wasn't so tired, but surprise of surprises Kaien hadn't done _any_ of what she had thought he would do when she came back, instead, he did the _last_ thing she would have expected.

He had fallen asleep.

He was cute when he slept. She thought he was handsome, gorgeous, and even more synonyms for those when he was awake, but when he was sleeping he simply looked…cute. She didn't know how to explain it, he just looked…content. Happy. She wondered if he looked like that even without her, and she was selfish enough to wish that he only looked like that when she was by his side. His body heat made getting cold impossible and sleep was getting increasingly harder to rebel against, but she just wanted to stay awake and enjoy the embrace longer.

She didn't know how he did it. He was always so honest with her, and when he wasn't it was usually because he didn't want to worry her. It had _hurt_ to be away from him for so long, without the safety she always felt with him close by and the warmth she could practically feel from his feelings for her. He was like the safety net below a tight rope; sometimes one forgot how much it meant to them until they found themselves falling. She was as independent as they came, and he respected that, but she could always count on him to be there if she ever fell. Truth be told, she found herself getting uneasy without him.

She wasn't without her own insecurities. She had had to leave for a good amount of time and she'd be lying if she thought males aren't prone to temptation. He wasn't ugly after all, quite the opposite in her own opinion, and apparently many Arrancar too, much to her chagrin. She was only thankful most of the Women's Association had married otherwise she might have been a bit more worried about a kidnapping attempt.

She wouldn't have put it past them. She had heard her mother's stories about their exploits.

He always seemed to be fine with whatever she wanted to do, even if it involved leaving him behind. He may have his reservations at first, but usually what she wanted always won out in the end. Trust like that wasn't forged overnight. He made it look so easy, when even _she_ had trouble with some of the things she had to do sometimes, especially if it involved being away from him. According to Asuka, and now Tatsuki, things like that were supposed to be some of the hardest things he could do, so either he had an incredible amount of willpower or she didn't mean as much to him as she thought.

Smacking herself came to mind right then, but doing that would have woken him up, so she didn't. She did pinch herself though. She _knew_ it would never, _ever_ be the latter of the two. He had made that abundantly clear too many times to count.

God she loved him, and she loved him loving her.

This embrace for example. This was his love. She nestled in a bit more comfortably and soon her battle was lost. She _would_ make it up to him, but for now this was exactly what she needed.

……

The warm morning air was only offset by the small amount of dew that had gathered on their bodies over the night, and Kin shivered a bit when she woke up slightly damp. She had slept outdoors before, so she was used to it, but it was still a little uncomfortable. A small noise below her triggered her memory and she found herself not caring that she was wet, even if it was barely noticeable. She was still in his arms.

It gave her such a wonderfully warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

She moved as carefully as she could to move a limb off his body so she could steady herself on something other than him, and as soon as that was accomplished she gently moved his arms from around her. She was really awake now, and she could see the strands of sunlight making their way over the horizon's hills. Ignoring the crick in her back as she did so, Kin stood up and stretched her arms above her head with a happy sigh. That had been a great rest.

She walked over to the water's edge and jumped a bit at the colder temperature of the liquid as it hit her toes, but it was still very reasonable for such an early hour. She had never seen a lake quite as clear as this one before, and she couldn't even see any foliage of large rocks on the lakebed. How clear it was was only emphasized by the fact that she could _see_ that. The water was as motionless as glass, and it was absolutely breathtaking. How something like this had come into creation she wondered, more so since the water itself seemed to tingle with traces of her fiancé's spiritual pressure, and not just residual either. It was like the water _itself_ had come directly from him. Her brain snapped to awareness.

Nejibana.

She giggled at the thought. _Yeah right! For Nejibana to reach _this_ kind of volume it would take…! _She stopped and sighed. _Then again, this is _Kaien_ we're talking about here…I wouldn't put it past him…._ Who the other people were in her thoughts was up for evaluation, but it didn't really matter, she had other ideas as to what to do with the lake in front of her. She had done this in the training area, but that place was completely secluded and there was no chance of anyone getting in undetected.

Still…the thought of getting caught did give a delightful deliciousness to the whole idea. It was still in the very early reaches of the morning, so the risk wasn't _too_ great.

One by one she discarded her clothing and set her zanpakutou on top of the pile until she stepped nude into the crystal clear water. She shivered a bit at first as the cold shot right through her and turned her nipples to diamond hard peaks, but she continued in until she was completely submerged and swimming. The water felt great on her bare flesh as it slid through the ridges of her body, and the feel of it directly against her womanhood wasn't entirely unpleasant. She hadn't planned on making skinny-dipping one of her things to do in Soul Society, but as circumstances were, she wasn't going to complain. It was her first time doing it too, other than the hot spring in the training area, but that was meant to be used naked.

She stopped near the middle of the lake and slicked her wet hair behind her ears as she looked over at the rising sun. It was going to be a beautiful day, and here at least she was allowed to appreciate the changing of the days. In the training area it was always mid-afternoon. On a whim she turned to look back at the beach, and she froze when she saw Kaien sitting up and simply lounging forward with a hand under his chin. He was simply sitting in place with a whimsical look on his face and yet she could practically _feel_ his glowing yellow eyes boring into her. She started to swim back so she could see him better, and as she did so she could see the remnants of sand sticking to his shoulders. She chuckled; his entire back was probably coated with sand. She stopped when she could put her feet on the ground again.

"Care to join me?"

He blinked as if he had just been broken out of a trance and stood up to start walking to the water's edge with his cut-off hakama on. There hadn't been any swimsuits for him, so he had just grabbed a pair of the standard black hakama and cut them off. His were white after all, and wet white was as good as no covering at all.

"Uh uh uhhhhh," she drawled teasingly with a finger shaking back and forth for effect. "No shorts allowed."

His eyes widened and he gulped nervously. "B-But what if someone…"

"Let 'em look!" she replied confidently. "You're all _mine._" His eyes darkened lustfully at that, and now it was she who gulped. She remembered that look. She _loved_ that look. She eagerly took in the show as he calmly undid the obi keeping the hakama shorts in place and they quickly fell to the ground, where his boxers soon followed.

He may be in Soul Society, but he wasn't about to change his underwear for fundoshi anytime soon. That just looked plain uncomfortable. He was still nervous even though his impressive reiatsu detecting abilities hadn't picked up anything within close range of them. He didn't know _why_ he was so self-conscious, he just was. Maybe he was just a bit more reserved than his wife-to-be.

A laugh broke from his mouth unexpectedly. _Captain Obvious maybe?_ he thought with a silly grin over his inner mind. Had he known about it, he would have been able to relate the situation to Ichigo's encounter with Yoruichi in the hot springs. When it came to reservations they were like two sides of the same coin. It still meant they were on completely different sides.

Kin was taking in his nude form with hungry eyes. Granted, the romantic lighting of Christmas Eve _had_ been great to see him in, but this was the first time she had ever seen him nude in clear daylight. Unwittingly she licked her lips. He looked just as good as he had then, though the blush on his face was far more pronounced now. She was surprised by his lack of goose-bumps when he stepped into the water, and her mouth watered when she saw his pectorals harden just like hers. His left arm stood out far more than any other part of his body, but that was because of the black ink tattooed over his many scars. The odd contrast of black and white between the ink and the rest of his skin gave him a surprisingly balanced look. She saw him grin at her as he swam out to where she was, and a tiny jolt of uneasiness swept through her. She knew _that_ look too.

He dunked himself under and the next thing she knew the water had shot up where he had disappeared and a pair of arms had been wrapped under her breasts from behind. She yelped in surprise at the feel of a completely nude body pressing intimately against her, but his chuckle as he nestled his chin into the crook of her neck melted any tension from her.

"You forget that water is my element," he whispered huskily and gently nibbled on her ear. She shivered at the pressure that went straight to her sex and her toes curled. Where the blushing boy she had just seen on the beach had gone she had no idea, but she couldn't have been bothered to look, she loved this part of him too.

He was right, and she knew it. They were opposites in more ways than one. He was the water to her fire, the white to her black, the reason to her spontaneity. _But_, he was all hers, and she was all his. Their love balanced each other out.

Since the water made their bodies so slick she was easily able to turn in his grip until she was face to face with him, her large breasts squishing against his hard chest. She wound her arms around his neck and twined her fingers together behind his head as they just stood there, holding each other nude in the water. She could feel his rapidly hardening manhood pressing against her, but that only made her desire grow. His hair was pasted back against his head and droplets of water were beading down his wet skin, and every so often into his bright yellow eyes, that drew all the more attention with the dark tattoos under them.

He raised a hand to slick the wet hair that had fallen out of place back behind her ears, and the touch lingered down her back through all of the soaked golden strands. He was entranced by her eyes, by her hair, by her body, by her soul. He just couldn't look away.

"You look so beautiful…"

She smiled warmly. "Handsome _and_ a smooth talker, you're a dangerous combination."

Part of her was surprised and part was aroused when his hands gripped her butt firmly and hiked her up to his eye level, to which her legs had instantly responded and wrapped around his hips, pressing them together even more intimately than before. Since her arms had already been around his neck there was nothing awkward about the position, and staring directly into his eyes made even more moisture gather at her folds. His hands were still holding her firm backside and she loved it; any other situation she may have slapped him, but this was what she wanted. He seemed to sense the conflicting feelings of bliss and confusion as she tried to think about how she wanted her body to respond, even though it was already rebelling against her.

"You love it, admit it," he responded slyly, to which she made a face at him. She rolled her hips into him and laughed when he stumbled in place as she ground her heated folds into his erection.

"_You_ admit it," she replied cattily with an equally smug grin.

He pulled his hips back just enough for his hardened flesh to slip between her thighs and she gasped when his large shaft slid between the cleft of her ass, so close to her slit and yet so far away at the same time; just enough to torment her. "You never need to ask for that, if loving you requires an admission I'll shout it from the rooftops."

She blushed at the corny line. "You damn sap…" she breathed as her eyelids flickered and she pushed her head closer to his.

He grinned as he leaned forward to meet her. "I know you love it…"

Her only reply was a soft moan as their lips met softly, and the tension that had been building for the past five days finally snapped. He rubbed himself against her and her head fell back limply when he started kissing down her wet neck to the hardened nubs protruding from her breasts. He knew they were one of the most sensitive places on her body, and he coaxed the pleasure into her slowly by dragging his tongue along the hard peaks one after another while kneading the neglected one with just the amount of pressure he had come to know she liked. She bit into his shoulder to try and muffle the sounds that wanted to escape her mouth, and unlike his human body, the Hierro of his spiritual form didn't give way under her teeth's assault and simply halted her noise.

She gave a low whine when he moved his hand away from her breast, but that quickly turned into a shrill screech when he unexpectedly pinched her clit as he continued rubbing against her. The noises she made, even when trying to keep quiet, were the most erotic things he had ever heard and he was so hard he was throbbing. She panted against his shoulder as she struggled to keep her legs wrapped around him. "Please…inside me…now…" She wanted it so badly she wasn't sure if _any_ of the liquid covering her sex was the water of the lake. She had been waiting days for this; foreplay could wait for another time.

Their half-lidded eyes barely made contact before they were kissing again, and with a slight adjustment and a push of their hips against each other they were joined. Her body cried in relief as it was penetrated and the fullness that she had been missing ever since Christmas Eve returned. It was like she was incomplete without him, like part of her soul had returned. She nearly wept at the beauty of it all.

Electricity exploded across her eyes when he started moving and her inner walls were assaulted by his heated flesh and the occasional jolt of cold water that followed it in. It was indescribable. His hands had a death grip on her firm behind. and he was using that to help her along with her grinding motions towards him as he moved to meet her. Her fingers were going numb, her toes were moving ways she wasn't sure they were supposed to move, and her brain had shut everything out but the mind-blowing pleasure ripping through her like a violent wave.

His legs were trembling but thankfully the water eliminated a good deal of their weight from his care, so he was still able to thrust in as hard as he could while supporting the both of them. She felt even tighter than their first time if it was possible, or maybe he was just too aroused to make any comparisons accurately. She was flexing around him, squeezing him harder each and every time he tried to withdraw, and it was sending his mind reeling. Even in a position where he was responsible for most of the movement, she still bucked into him as hard as she was able and it was absolutely incredible. The small, powerful body of his lover and fiancé panting lustfully against him as their bodies joined harder and harder was intoxicating, breathtaking, world-tilting, all consuming.

He couldn't feel himself anymore, all he could feel was _them_.

He buried his head in her chest to try and hide the sounds breaking past his sealed lips. Instead he used those lips to suck the dark flesh closest him and the sounds that were still being created vibrated against her skin and sent her into shivers against him. It was so hard to hold on, but he couldn't allow himself to lose it until she had. He wasn't one to let his lover go unfulfilled.

Kin was feeling lightheaded. The growing pleasure had turned into what could only be described as an alcohol-induced buzz that made her lose her sense of self. Her entire body was on fire, pulses of magma had replaced her blood and it was only worsened with each shockwave that originated from her nether-regions. She couldn't tell if she was crying or not, the overwhelming emotion was just too much for her to handle. She could feel her saliva falling from her open mouth as she panted for the air that just wouldn't come, and she could feel the coil of tension that had been winding ever tighter within her reach that long-desired breaking point.

Her entire body convulsed and she bit his shoulder even though the scream could still be heard in near-perfect clarity. The skin beneath her teeth gave way under her vice-like hold and the metallic taste of his blood met her lips. The second that viscous liquid met her tongue it was like every sense had been heightened, like every nerve had been dipped in liquid lightning, like her sense of being had expanded beyond herself and zeroed her in on everything happening to her body in the third-person. It was frightening, it was indescribable, it was _incredible._

When Kin's teeth did the impossible and broke through his Hierro, Kaien lost any sense of rational thought that might have been left in him. He was too far gone; there was no way he was holding back after that. When her inner muscles tightened down on him and went into tremors he knew she was there, and he willingly let go as the orgasmic relief they had both been searching for flowed through them.

She came. She came so hard so many times she lost count. Her body shivered and shook in his grip as his body went rigid and his own orgasm washed into her and warmed her insides as his hot breath dried the skin of her neck. She felt dizzy, numb…and absolutely wonderful. Her whole body was tingling in the aftershocks of her climaxes and he was _still_ inside her. They were both gasping for breath and waiting for their sanity to return and they were in the middle of a _lake_ of all things.

"We…have to do…this again…sometime…" she panted out hoarsely.

Kaien grinned contently as he continued to struggle for his lost breath. "I would certainly…hope so. We are…getting married…after all…"

She punched his shoulder feebly even though she had laughed at his joke. She could barely move, but at least now she could breathe. "I meant the lake part!"

He leaned over and nibbled on her ear hungrily. "I know," he said lowly as he pulled back his hips and jarred into her again, earning a high-pitched gasp of surprise. "I'd do it anywhere…" another thrust, and her low groan of satisfaction only proved to make him harder. "…anytime…" again, and she buried her head back into his neck, where her bite marks had already healed. "…you don't have to worry about that." He reached down to their joined bodies and rubbed her clit; he loved her face as it scrunched up in so much pleasure it almost looked like she was in pain. His own situation wasn't any better, but right then he could focus on her solely.

She whimpered as he continued his assault. It felt like she was a helpless victim of the incredible feelings washing through her. She had a high pain tolerance, a _very_ high pain tolerance, but pleasure was another matter altogether.

She managed to get enough air to get out one last coherent sentence before their world dissolved again. "Good to know."

Next time, she'd pay him back. For now, she surrendered.

And from the shoreline, two zanpakutous hummed happily.

……

The Thirteenth Division headquarters was bustling, as the short break instituted by Center Forty-Six had run out two days ago. Hollows didn't take breaks—not that they knew of anyways—and the regular hustle was back in the military establishment. Of course, most of the days were lax, but being that there had just been a holiday, many had obligations to catch up on and that was the reason for the unusual hurry of the day.

Kaien resisted the urge to laugh as he ate lunch with Kin and his sisters. It really did feel like he was back home, as disconcerting as it was. If all had gone well then their father would be done his paperwork today, but being that he hated deskwork with more of a passion than nearly anything else, they doubted it. He hadn't known it was possible to start a day off so well, but now that the bar had been set so high he didn't know what he was going to do. Waking up to Kin every morning didn't hurt either, even without the physical intimacy.

"_**Well don't you look cheerful today. Honestly, you're like a little kid that had his favorite toy taken away and he finally got it back…"**_ Tsukiyomi looked over at Kin for a second, _**"Sorry, don't take that personally."**_

Kin shrugged. Someone could have walked up to her, hit her in the face, and she would have just smiled and said 'thank you'. She was feeling way too happy right then to care about anything. In fact, it almost looked like she was drunk. "Meh, comparisons are boring anyway. I probably would've said straight out he missed me and he's glad I'm back," she stated matter-of-factly as she drank the rest of her milk with a satisfied _mmh_.

Kaien winced. "You guys remember I'm right here, right?"

Tsuki eyed him mirthfully with her dangerous, perpetually-Hollowized orbs. _**"Of course. It's no fun talking about you behind your back."**_

He groaned in response.

"Was he really that bad?"

Unlike her sister, Masaki had her brother's side. Tsukiyomi had a feeling of something like it, but Masaki could only imagine what it would be like to have Ikki torn away from her for any length of time. Even if it was impossible since they shared a body most of the time, the thought alone scared her. "You don't know the half of it, but I can't blame him. If I was in love with someone and they had to leave just like that I would be a little depressed too." Kin understood what she was saying, but just a few seconds later Masaki had raised her hand and pinched her own cheek. "OW!!" She complained loudly. "Okay okay!! If _the person I loved_ had to leave just like that I would be a little depressed too. Jeez! You're such a little kid!"

It would seem the youngest Kurosaki was literally having a fight with herself.

Kin was forcing back giggles. "D-Does this h-happen often?"

Tsukiyomi smiled her usual, enigmatic smile that seemed like it would befit a wise noblewoman more than it would a teenage girl. How she pulled it off then only spoke more of her charm. _**"Quite. Usually only when she forgets to control herself though. It isn't easy for Ikki to take control of a body part so easily otherwise."**_ And she too chuckled lightly.

Masaki glared half-heartedly at her sister while she held her own hand down against the table. "Oh be quiet! It doesn't happen that often!"

Kaien smirked. "Only when she forgets that Ikki considers herself her lover. _That's_ when she tries so hard to make her presence known." Masaki's face turned a bright shade of red and she sputtered at her brother's forthrightness. Whether it was the truth or not she would never tell, but hearing her normally shy—when it came to things of the romantic realm—brother talk about something like that so casually had really done a one-over on her. Thus, she seemed absolutely mortified when her hand unexpectedly reached up and flipped off her older brother.

She slapped her hand down faster than Kin had thought possible.

"How quaint," he said sarcastically. "Love you too, Princess." To Kin's surprise, Masaki's face went ever redder, and it didn't look like it was because of rage.

"Quit it Ikki, you're embarrassing me!" Masaki whispered, quickly becoming mortified herself.

"What's that all about?" Kin couldn't help but ask through a chuckle of her own. Tsuki didn't seem to have any mercy in her, not even to her sibling judging from the smug grin on her face. Kin might have thought she wasn't even capable of it had she not seen her emotional in the past.

"_**Ikki's weak to pretty-boys that call her anything endearing. Byakuya-sensei complimented her on her Shunpo once and called her the same thing because of our status you-know-where, and you would have loved to see how red she went! I still haven't seen anything funnier to date!!"**_ Masaki was up and over in an instant with her hand over her laughing sister's mouth, as red as ever.

"Shut up! What if someone hears you!?"

That wasn't what they should have been worried about right then.

"Ah, so this is where the strange reiatsu has been coming from. Quite a mystery how that Ukitake keeps finding such anomalies! My my!"

They all froze in place. The voice was high and scratchy, calculating to its very core, and frightening above all else. How a voice like that could belong to anyone they had no idea, but they all suspected it was a very bad thing that they had met up with the owner of aforementioned voice. They looked to the source and found that the appearance of the man was just as vile as the sound made by his body. He looked like some kind of failed fusion between a clown and a demon, gaining both attributes in the colorful, yet menacing appearance. His blue hair was tied down like ram's horns on the sides of his head, and the gaze of his merciless amber eyes seemed like it could be _felt_. They didn't know if his face was painted or if it was just another unnatural aspect of him, and they didn't care to find out which it was. His eerie smile was toothy and wide, grinning for all intents and purposes like a mad scientist.

Ironic, how that particular descriptive came to mind.

Even Tsukiyomi felt a cold chill run down her spine as she looked at the menacing captain, zanpakutou in its regular place, oddly set in front of him. It was just plain…creepy. They had no idea who this particular person was, just that he was a captain, and one they hadn't met before at that.

"H-Hello...um…Captain. H-How can we help you?" Masaki said, as calmly as she could. It wasn't very convincing.

He didn't answer her, instead the man that seemed to tower over the sitting group leaned down with a hand on his chin as he looked at her curiously. "Hmmm, you have interesting reiatsu too, though the abnormality is a lot harder to detect than this girl here…how peculiar…"

She was sure his eyes were doing things to her, she just couldn't tell what. They were so cold, calculating, like he saw her as nothing more than a sack of meat with new spices never before seen inside. The orange-haired Kurosaki tried not to cringe openly. He was too close, it was almost like he could see right through her. Tsukiyomi on the other hand was getting visibly annoyed with the strange male so close to her sister. _**"Just because you're a captain doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to people you meet, mister. I'd recommend you back away."**_ Inwardly, she flinched when the eyes of the blue-haired man fixated themselves on her without even turning his head. There was definitely something unnatural about him. Luckily for her, her usual impassiveness didn't change outwardly.

"Ahhh, so here's the source. How strange, it would appear you are constantly in that…what did that kid call it...? Ah yes, White Transformation was it not? Your reiatsu is nearly identical to the Arrancar and Vizard, yet subtly different. How absolutely fascinating, a transformation of this magnitude should be impossible, since the spirit within couldn't possibly last that long even when completely beaten into submission…hmm. Girl, how would you like to come back to my laboratory? I'll give you special treatment the likes of which I have only offered one other!"

A white eyebrow started twitching. _**"In what reality do you think I'd agree to that? You're cr—"**_ Her words died in her mouth as his death-like finger traced the side of her face.

"Wonderful! Such soft skin can have such a dense concentration of reiatsu! Surely you more than outmatch even some of the former Espada!"

The compliment was drowned out in the fear he instilled naturally. Even the ice-blooded Tsukiyomi was having a hard time keeping down her food at the man's actions, and she found that she could barely move. She wanted to hit him, but something in her was frozen, the sense of fear activated by intense reiatsu within her wouldn't let her move. He was strong, but she wasn't sure in what sense. He certainly didn't _look_ strong, but he was obviously intelligent, especially when it came to discernment of reiatsu. If that was the case though, why did it take him so long to detect her? She was just confused. Confused, humiliated, and slightly scared.

The air seemed to change the second he touched her, because the chill that ran down her spine this time was from a fear she knew very, very well. It wasn't reiatsu, it was the plain intention to kill, and just like she felt, it was very, _very_ strong.

Captain Kurotsuchi looked over in curiosity at the feeling that had even _his_ spine tingling. The young man he found himself looking at had glowing yellow eyes that were practically radiating death, and a scowl and likeness he knew all too well. "Hmm, no doubt you're the brat's son, aren't you? How such an irresponsible young man like him was made a captain I'll never know, even after years of research. How delightful, so many interesting subjects in one day! I have to applaud you boy, I didn't even know you were there!"

Kaien was trying to keep his anger in check, but he was failing miserably. "You will back away from my sister right now, or so help me I will beat you so far into the ground my dad'll have to dig you up just so he can beat you back down."

The captain's eyes moved in ways that weren't human, and overall it could only be said that he seemed _bored_ with the threat. He did remove his hand from Tsukiyomi's face though, and stood to regard the oldest child. "So I take it you're the oldest out of the three of you…" He trailed off as he fixed his stare on Masaki again, before changing to Tsukiyomi, and then Kaien once again. "Failed products, the both of you. I don't even know how you've managed to live this long."

Kin watched as all three of the Kurosaki children went white, before red with outrage.

"And what, pray tell, would you be referring to?" Kaien gritted out. Now he knew why his father was so easily moved to hurting the man rather than trying to reason with him.

The captain sighed like a frustrated teacher. "Failures, you and the white girl are failures. You're like prototypes! You!" he said pointedly, directing his gaze back to Masaki, "would be the one I would dare to assume was born last, correct?" Ashen, Masaki nodded wordlessly. "Your reiatsu is the one most stable out of all of you, and though dangerous, it should pose no threat to your life. No doubt there are circumstances I could only discover through experimentation involved, but this is my best hypothesis at the moment."

Kin was getting worried now, and the buzz of happiness had been all but completely killed within her. _Where is he going with this? Even I had a hard time telling who was born when out of Tsuki and Masaki…._

The clown-like maniac looked over at Tsukiyomi. "You, your power is impressively contained, young lady, I _will_ give you that. Judging by how hard you try to keep up that emotionless demeanor of yours only goes to further my assumptions. I'm not one to base my thoughts on improvable speculation, but for the time being I will humor you. That power of yours isn't nearly as stable as this girl's, in fact it's almost like a fusion just over half-completed." The girl in question's normally slim eyes widened. "Ah! Such a promising response! Getting information in this manner is not my usual method, but I have to say it does give rather incredible results for such simple wordplay. You are at odds with not only others but also yourself, and from your appearance I would hazard a guess that that may actually be literal. Indeed, you are a fascinating creature, your force of will must be astonishing…how I would love to make a woman like you scream…"

Tsukiyomi was seconds away from whimpering but still managed to force out, _**""G-Get away from me…"**_ Even her words lacked her usual strength. She was clearly unnerved.

"And _you_…" he started as he shifted his demonically happy face over to Kaien, "…are without a doubt the first-born."

Kaien smirked arrogantly. "What tipped you off genius? I don't look their age do I?"

Captain Kurotsuchi _'tsk'_ed and rolled his eyes in a manner that was impossible to any normal human being. "Trivial my boy, I wouldn't dare base my theories on something as inaccurate as appearance! No, no, _nooo_, you're the first-born because out of all of you you're the one most volatile!"

Kin didn't know what to make of the way her fiancé suddenly went rigid.

"The white girl here is unsteady, but corrections wouldn't be impossible for her to perform herself given the right circumstances I would have to suppose. _You_ however, have gone one step further than her. You may be able to show your _emotions_ outwardly, but the fact that your _reiatsu_ is hidden so completely every waking moment means your power is even more unstable than hers. Of course that's only conjecture at this point, and the screams of men are far too unsatisfying for me to bother otherwise, but it's tempting I do admit…"

Kaien had gone a very pale shade of white, and if she was asked Kin would have said that this was the most shaken she had ever seen all three siblings at one time. They were falling for everything the captain in front of them was saying like naïve children. Even if it was true, Kin had been taught better than to respond to the words of someone like him. She had been warned about the man in front of them by her father personally, and what she had heard she hadn't liked. He was brilliant, but crazy beyond redemption.

Yet, even when she thought it was over, he continued. "How would I label you…?" Even she went white at that. "Ah! Interim Existences! How, I have no idea, but you have all clearly been skewed on the deepest spiritual level possible. You, orange brat, seem to have found some way to return to relative normalcy, but seeing how you were obviously born at the same time as your sister is a truly disturbing conundrum. How you're so different from your siblings is positively startling, but somehow you found a way to complete yourself, and judging on your reaction it seems it was without even your _own_ knowledge."

Kin was now starting to get seriously annoyed. He was playing with them, talking to himself like he was talking to them without the smallest regard for their existence. He treated them like lab rats while standing right in front of them!!

"Interim…Existence…?" Her head shot over to Kaien as the words came from his mouth. He seemed honestly disturbed by the evaluation of himself.

"Thank you for repeating it so I know you understood me, such a wonderful specimen! Indeed, the orange brat is the only one of you to have her 'final form,' if you would excuse the term, even if it would still seem slightly insecure. Your reiatsu is like a book into your lives to anyone with the proper ability, but I'll admit I have never encountered a reiatsu so…distorted, before; powerful, but still distorted. Well, at least not naturally, in any case. You two," he continued, pointing to Kaien and Tsukiyomi individually, "are still far from complete. Judging from your age girl, I'd estimate another six years; but you boy, since it looks like you're about to lose control of yourself any minute now, I would guess you have another _year_, at _most_."

The atmosphere itself froze around them. Even Kin wasn't able to keep the blood in her head at that, and if Kaien had been close to losing control before, that too had stopped in solid disbelief. Masaki was the only one who could gather up enough air to speak normally. "Wha-What are you talking about?"

"Hmm?" the freakish captain made the noise with a raised eyebrow, if what he had could be called eyebrows before he flickered in place, then looked at his finger curiously. "I was talking about their life expectancy of course. You should be fine, better than fine even going on the strength and potency of your reiatsu, but these two will probably end up dead before they even hit twenty. It's hard to tell with the boy since his reiatsu is hidden so well, but just from the stability of his Hierro when I touched it just now, he can't have more than two years left. It's almost like his blood and body are incompatible with each other. Hmm, I haven't seen something like that since the initial attempts at Hollowization by Aizen…resulted in complete evaporation of the spiritual form that did! It's like your reiatsu has been forced to change and grow repeatedly by an outside stimulus…hmm…"

In an instant Kin was behind the captain with her sword at his throat. Tears were falling from her eyes, but they were narrowed in hatred at the man that had so casually waltzed up to them and thrown their lives into disarray. "You have some nerve talking like that when you have nothing to base your assumptions on. Things must have been going well for you these past hundred so years, Mayuri, for you to start doing experiments without physical applications." Her voice was a cold as death and twice as threatening. Only his eyes turned to regard her, and when they did all they did was roll.

"I knew that mop of hair looked familiar." He sighed dramatically. "To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting the daughter of the great Kisuke Urahara?"

Kin grit her teeth and tried to stay calm. She could kill him right now and not even break a sweat, but he didn't seem in the least bit worried.

"I'm surprised you're as balanced as you are. Such dense reiatsu and yet such control! I'm impressed girl, you certainly are your parents' daughter. Your reiatsu is all over the brat, did you come over here because of what I said? Your parents would never rise to such a trivial provocation."

Her grip on her sword tightened. "You…"

He merely laughed and swatted her sword away from his neck, uncaring of the blood now flowing down his hand. "Hmm, I didn't expect your sword to have so much reiatsu in it. You continue to impress me girl. I'll leave you alone now kiddies, I've been aware of your father's plan for quite some time now. Once I've got my daughter back I'll be sure to pay you a visit."

"W-Wait!"

Mayuri stopped with a frown. "Hmm? What, I'm bored now. It was quite entertaining watching your reactions, so thank you. By the way, white girl, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to fix yourself if you try hard enough, but I doubt anyone without my expertise would be able to discern the base of your problem. Come see me when you want to know, I'll extend my special offer to you one more time only. You boy," he said with a wide grin, "…enjoy what time you have left."

And just like that, he was gone.

With only seconds to spare it would seem, because not even ten seconds later the shocking orange-haired head of Ichigo Kurosaki had sped into the room. "I felt him here! Where's that bastard! Are you all alright!?" It was only after he asked that did he realize it hadn't been necessary. Anyone would have been able to tell how his children were just from looking at their faces. "Hey guys, what's wrong?"

"_**Six years..."**_ Tsuki breathed quietly. _**"He said I only had six years left to…"**_ Even the emotionless Tsukiyomi was tearing up, and she couldn't even finish her sentence. Kaien simply hadn't moved, not once, but his hands were shivering.

"Left to what, sweetie?"

"Shut up…"

Ichigo raised his head; he was sure he had heard something, but Kaien had never said anything like that to him, ever. It couldn't be what he had thought it was. "Excuse me?"

"**SHUT! UP!!!!"** Kaien screamed, and shook everyone in the room. His eyes were almost completely taken over, and they hadn't felt a thing. **"If he could tell after being around us for five minutes, you and Mom had to have known!!!! You knew and you didn't tell us!!!!! I-I…I can't believe this! I…I HATE YOU!!!!!"** And he took off running.

Ichigo was up in a second and about to give chase when Kin caught his arm. He looked over at her with confusion and worry painted all over his face. "Let me go, I have a promise to fulfill." As soon as she was done talking, she was already gone.

_What just happened?_ Ichigo thought confusedly. Something had happened, and he had no idea what. He knelt down beside his twins and put a hand on each of their knees as he looked up at the faces. "Come on girls, what's wrong? You look like you just heard the world was going to end…" He trailed off as he saw the black tears falling from Tsukiyomi's eyes, and she threw herself at him. He caught her as best he could, and she started crying into his shoulder right after. He patted her back while he looked over at Masaki for some kind of explanation.

"C-Captain Kurotsuchi was just here. He…he said that…g-going on our reiatsu…I'm…Ikki and I…we…we'll be the only one that'll live past twenty," she said shakily, fighting off tears herself.

Ichigo's eyes couldn't have gotten any wider. "Ma-Mayuri said that!?"

"Is it true!?" she asked instantly, and his eyes impossibly widened further. "Kaien's right! If he could tell that much just from our reiatsu then Mom definitely would have known!! Is it true!?"

A sad feminine voice sighed behind them. "Knowing and being able to do something are two very different things. Yes, we knew," Tatsuki said as she sat down beside them and hugged Masaki close to her, already knowing what would happen when she did. True to form, she started weeping silently. "Hey now, it's not the end of the world. I said _we_ couldn't do anything about it, but we've always known that it'll have to be _you_ to pull yourself together. You've got plenty of time, and we both have had faith for as long as you've been alive that you'll find a way. We just didn't want to tell you like this…"

Masaki _glared_ up at her mother. "Kai's almost nineteen! _When_ were you going to tell us!?"

Tatsuki cooed softly to her daughter and ran her hand down her soft orange hair comfortingly. "He has everything he needs now, but ultimately it's all up to her. We're your parents; we would never let our children die before us. _Never._"

Masaki just seemed all the more confused. "Who's _her_? What do you mean!?"

"I can't tell you darling, but trust me, relax. Everything will be alright. No one's going anywhere, and Tsuki will find what she needs soon enough. We just have to have faith in her."

"But _why?_ _Why_ am I the only one??"

The former tomboy sighed painfully. "You…had already found what you needed. Masaki…you and Tsukiyomi weren't twins, yo-you…were triplets. By the time we knew something was wrong your other sister was already…already…" She couldn't bring herself to say it, it was too painful.

"It was a stillbirth," Ichigo finished softly, to Tsukiyomi and Masaki's horrified gasps. "It was very early in the pregnancy, and we still don't know what happened to cause it, but she died in the womb. With you two still developing we could only wait until you were ready to be born to take out the body, but when we had the next ultrasound…she was already gone."

Masaki felt like she was going to throw up. "Are…are you saying…I _absorbed_ my…my dead sister's body?" She felt sick just at the thought.

"You were all so early in the developmental stages it was impossible to tell, but there is the possibility that…that you were once more Hollow than Tsuki. If…if her body was what you needed to survive…you probably took it without even realizing."

The orangehead froze in place as something occurred to her. "Ikki...." she whispered hoarsely. "That's how Ikki's able to come into our world!!! That's why she isn't like a normal Hollow!!"

Ichigo and Tatsuki stiffened. They had never thought of that possibility before, but it did make sense. It made too much sense. Ichigo stood with Tsukiyomi still in his arms as his reiatsu started flaring around them. He was mad, but it wasn't at them. No, it was at the person that had earned his ire in the first place.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

He set down his daughter in Tatsuki's arms, even though the white-haired girl didn't want to let go, and stood up briskly. The hairs on the back of Masaki's neck were standing up, and she gulped. Her father was pissed, there was no doubt about that.

"Everything's going to fine girls, I'm gonna go do what I should have done right when we got here!"

A flicker of static and he was gone.

……

Kin could _see_ the residual reiatsu in the path he had left behind. His state was like a cracked pot, and even though it was small, there was still spiritual pressure being leaked as he ran. _God its dark…_ she thought as she fought the urge to shiver. His reiatsu was as black as always, and when she passed through the small patches where some of it had been leaked it was like the temperature had dropped ten degrees.

How her kind and loving Kaien that she used to kiss so innocently when they were younger had a reiatsu so demonic she just couldn't figure out.

She finally found him, and it was in a surprisingly well-thought-out place. He was sitting on the upper level of the broken Soukyoku, holding his knees like a hurt child. Since the Soukyoku was made out of a material that repelled and destroyed anything made of spirit, his reiatsu was already weakened before it even had time to saturate the air. She wanted to gasp at the beautiful scenery around them; they could see everything for miles at this height. She could tell just from looking at him that he wasn't looking at anything that may have been around him though, in fact she hadn't known it was possible for human eyelids to shut that tightly. He was obviously fighting himself again.

She clasped a hand to her constricting chest. _I won't be afraid…I won't be afraid…._ She _couldn't_ be afraid, she was the daughter of Yoruichi Shihouin! She was the woman that could do anything, surely _she_ wouldn't fail if she was put in this position! She swallowed her fear; she had made a promise, and she would keep it.

"Kaien…" she was glad her voice hadn't cracked like it wanted to.

Then the blood broke out from under his eyelids.

The tears of blood, the sign that his loss of control was inevitable.

Kin found herself trembling before she was even consciously aware of it. _Dammit what'm I supposed to do!?_ She reacted on instinct. Grabbing his shoulders, thanks to her highly-developed strength she easily lifted him off the ground while he straightened out just from surprise. Before even that had fully computed she pushed him against the wall of the Soukyoku and pressed her lips against his, regardless of the sight of blood flowing down his cheeks like tears. She tensed when she felt his body stiffen, but just seconds later he was kissing her back, not forcefully like she had expected, but softly, so softly she could barely believe it was him. Her only comparison could have been their first kiss on his return. It was gentle, like rose petals ghosting across her face, and it was one of the single most electric things she had ever felt. She loved him lost to passion, she loved it when _she_ got to be lost to passion, but this…was something else altogether.

She felt his strong arms wrapping around her thin body and heat exploded within her. She loved him so much, and yet according to Mayuri they had less than two years to find some way to keep him alive. This was so beautiful, so loving, why did something like this have to be tainted by that accursed thought? He pulled away unexpectedly, and she whined in loss. When she opened her eyes she found herself looking straight into his, and his left was still very much transformed, but the transformation of the right eye had receded greatly.

"**I can't…I can't lose you. I worked for five years so I could…so I could tell you that my heart had never left your side. I don't want to leave you alone again…"**

Kin's throat closed up and she buried her head in his chest. "Dammit…goddammit Kaien, can't you ever think about yourself for a change!? I'm not going to lose you, not now, not ever! I'm sure it's just a big misunderstanding or something. We'll beat the crap out of Mayuri, clear this mess up, and live happily ever after, right? That's what we planned isn't it?"

Kaien strained a sad smile as he ran a hand down the side of her face. She looked so sad, yet so hopeful and happy. God, she really didn't know what a face like that did to him.

He had to get her away from him as fast as humanly possible.

He hid his arms conspicuously behind his back after he had rolled down the sleeves of his jacket. "I'll be fine for now, you really quieted it down, I should be fine from here. Why don't you go see where Mom and Dad are, and if nothing's started yet, could you get him here right away? If not, Mom's fine, but be sure to take your time, she can't exert herself too much. It's just a precaution, you know, just to make sure."

Kin smiled brightly, happier that she had been able to help him than she had been from anything uninvolved with the _physical _realm in a long time. "No problemo! I'll be there and back in a flash!" And true to her word, she took off.

Kaien smiled bitterly before collapsing back to the broken brace he had been sitting on and clutching his arms, where the white sleeves were slowly turning _red_. He could feel his scars expanding, ripping through flesh once whole to make the healed marks longer as the original itself reopened. It was like going through surgery with no anesthetic, like walking into a den of Hollows as a human, he had a hard time even relating the pain to anything he had felt before because it was coming from so many different places on his body. _Shit…so it wasn't a side effect of my power…it was my blood that prevented the first cut from healing fully. This isn't good._

He slumped against the support with a wet _squelch._

The one on his back was getting worse too, and it wasn't being pretty about it.

He chuckled hoarsely as sweat poured down his skin. "So if you can't beat me mentally you're gonna beat me physically? Ha, I'd expect that of me all right…damn." He flinched as his scar tissue audibly snapped like a dry twig under pressure. "Shit, that freakin' hurts! You _do_ know you're part of this body too right?" Another jolt of pain hit him and he could feel the ebony taking over his right eye again.

"**Heh, I've been captured by the Adjucha before, there's no way you're winning that easily."**

He only hoped he could hold out long enough, because he could already see the fireworks of reiatsu in the air above the courts below. His family was fighting, there was no doubt of that. What that meant naturally, was he really was on his own for this one.

The tears of blood were joined by ones of his own as he trembled in pain and fought the urge to scream with every ounce of willpower he could muster. Nejibana was silent, and he felt no relief and no help from her this time. That hurt almost as much as his reopening wounds.

"**You don't want to die either; that's it, isn't it?"** He asked his bloodied arms, almost like he expected the purely instinctual power residing in his blood to answer him. He started shaking violently, and with the last bit of mental power he had left, he was able to realize he was going into shock

_Ne…ji…bana…where…are y—_

And he collapsed onto the floor of the broken stand in a pool of his own blood.

Just in time for his blood to start flowing _back_.

……

Ichigo Kurosaki stood with his face warped by fury as he appeared before Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who had been calmly walking along Seireitei like it was any other day. The man didn't even have the good grace to look surprised, he simply looked on with the same skeletal expression as always.

"Good afternoon…Captain Kurosaki," the demonic clown greeted simply, after rolling the words around in his mouth like he didn't like the taste of them, like he hadn't even noticed the expression on the orange-haired man's face.

Ichigo's scowl could have bent his face in two. "YOU. ARE. DEAD!!" With a quick move of his hand Zangetsu had been drawn and unfurled before Bankai was unleashed not a second later. His reiatsu crushed down on the atmosphere, enough even to make the blue-haired clown stumble slightly.

"Such hostility!" he said comically. "No matter, I had planned on testing these out on you anyways," he continued as he picked a remote out of his hakama. At Ichigo's slightly raised brow, the Twelfth Squad captain smiled wickedly. "You are familiar with Operation Spearhead are you not?"

Both of Ichigo's eyebrows shot into his hairline as a wave of cold washed down his spine. There were people coming, _something_ coming, and they weren't pushovers either.

One by one they came, like animated dolls staring lifelessly ahead as they gathered behind the grinning scientist. By the time they stopped, Ichigo wouldn't have doubted if there were more than a hundred.

"You see, after my trip to Hueco Mundo all those years ago I realized that you and your fellow Vizard were indeed superior to your Arrancar antithesis. Not only did you lack the bloodlust, but the repercussions of your transformation were far less than the Arrancar Resurrecion afterwards. No doubt the power increase was greater in the latter, but they lacked one very crucial element that only the Vizard could have…" He looked down at Ichigo's right hand, and the orange-haired captain understood immediately. "That's right, their zanpakutou. More specifically even, their releases. Had they been able to call out Bankai even after Resurrecion, Soul Society would have perished without fail, but that was their undoing in the end.

"Enough of that, the Arrancar did serve the wonderful purpose of telling me how to stabilize the transformation, and since 'will' is such a bothersome ability, one which I have yet to rectify with Nemu, I simply removed it. Now bear witness, Ichigo Kurosaki, to the next generation of Mod-Souls."

Thus, he watched as the first vacant-eyed Soul Reaper walked forward, and to his horror the puppet reached up…

…and pulled down a mask.

There was only one word for a situation like this.

"Oh fu—"

And an explosion rocked the area before it had even passed from his lips.

……

**Author's Notes:** Here's the next chapter! Now I'm really getting into the thick of it, and the next chapter is the biggie. I can only hope it still has the same effect as it did the first time I uploaded it, more so now that I've gotten all the mistakes out--hopefully. These next few chapters are really plot heavy, so I hope more people review, it helps me remember to post this, literally. If I'm reminded it's on FF than I go, 'oh crap! I need to edit the next chapter!' If not, I accidentally forget and end up working on one of my other stories. Oh well, the way of the world I guess.

Still, hope you enjoyed the chapter! More than that even, I hope you've continued to enjoy the story, and will continue to do so. That's one of the few reasons I keep posting my stuff.


	21. Ash Like Snow

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**..**

**Ash Like Snow**

..

"_Enough of that, the Arrancar did serve the wonderful purpose of telling me how to stabilize the transformation, and since 'will' is such a bothersome ability, one which I have yet to rectify with Nemu, I simply removed it. Now bear witness, Ichigo Kurosaki, to the next generation of Mod-Souls."_

_Thus, he watched as the first vacant-eyed Soul Reaper walked forward, and to his horror the puppet reached up…_

…_and pulled down a mask._

_There was only one word for a situation like this._

"_Oh fu—"_

_And an explosion rocked the area before it had even passed from his lips._

……

Kin felt the earth shake beneath her feet as she ran to the source of her future father-in-law's reiatsu. It was even stronger than it had been before, by many times in fact, and she could only guess that he had initiated Bankai. It was the only logical explanation to that kind of increase.

However, the reiatsu she felt of those around him were bloating because of a much _different_ reason. She knew the reiatsu of the Vizard transformation, as Masaki had performed it a few times in her presence. It was just as much of an outrageous increase as it always was, and what had her dumbfounded was she couldn't recognize the original reiatsu of those who had transformed. Sure, she knew there were other Vizards in the worlds, but none that she knew of wanted to come to Soul Society, let alone participate in a fight against one of their own. It went against their principles, unless it was for testing of course.

She was a very apt pupil when it came to reiatsu emotion discernment too, as her parents had thought it best she know the emotions of her opponent to best manipulate them was it ever needed. What was odd about this whole situation was that she felt…nothing. The only emotions she could sense were from Ichigo and Mayuri, but all the other impressive spiritual pressures around them were…void. They felt nothing, nothing at _all_. That was simply impossible.

She doubled her pace. She had the feeling she needed to get there _now_, and then there was also the situation with Kaien to worry about

_Never a dull moment around here, that's for sure!_

……

When the smoke cleared from the Cero's explosive collision, Ichigo was revealed in perfect health, smoke wafting from his superheated blade after the instinctive reflection of the Menos attack like it was something he put up with on a daily basis. Being where he lived and ruled for the most part, it actually was.

He smirked cockily. "Dang that stings, it took me forever to learn how to fire those and here these overgrown action figures can already do it! That is one _ugly_ mask by the way, _damn!_ Since that creepy bugger over there is your mother _and_ father I can see why though. Poor bastard."

Mayuri flinched unnoticeably, but his expression did visibly harden. "Childish taunts don't become you, Captain. I thought your whole purpose of this trip was to teach me a _lesson_ at my daughter's request. The way it is now I don't see you doing that anytime soon."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed murderously. "Oh I _will_ get to you. I will take out _each_ and _every_ one of these fakes _until_ I get to you, and then, if you're _lucky_, I will beat you. Right now, I'm seriously debating _killing_ you." Each word emphasized hailed a rise in reiatsu, until when he was finished even the emotionless, supposedly fearless Mod-Souls had some sweat forming on their skin. The one masked didn't seem any worse for wear, which was a tribute to his creator, as much as Ichigo hated to admit it.

"Really?" the other captain asked amusedly, while he mentally thanked the fact that he wore so many layers of clothing. It wouldn't be good if the orange-haired man realized even _he_ was feeling the pressure. "That's quite a claim. I suppose one Cero wouldn't really matter to a warrior of your caliber, but I highly doubt your threat. You see, every one of these wonderful products has been modified to disregard the reiatsu of their brethren, but, say they should all call out their masks at once. What would that mean for their opponent, especially should they be only one person?"

He seemed much too confident in himself, and Ichigo, though he had been living around countless Vastro-Lorde for the longest time, knew the veiled threat for what it was. Of course _he'd_ be able to withstand it, but he could think of few others able to do the same. Even he would be feeling the pressure on his lungs though. It would seem Mayuri had simply discarded the idea of experimenting on Vizards, and instead went straight to the Arrancar for the answers to the transformation. He had to admit that what the scientist had created, as abominable as they were, would indeed be a valuable asset to Soul Society should any major disturbance happen again.

Sadly, it went against his moral code to let such powerful puppets be under the control of someone like Mayuri Kurotsuchi. He had heard of what the man did to tools that disobeyed him, and he would sooner destroy them himself than leave them to the mercy of the amoral freak-show. It was a good thing he wasn't like Aizen though, because what he had created could easily be used to overthrow Soul Society. He knew enough about the man to know that would never be the case; his only goal in life was knowledge and experimentation, and if he got any sadistic pleasure out of said experimentation, then all the better. How the man had stolen so many Arrancar from right under his nose Ichigo couldn't figure out, but he felt bad he couldn't protect them, even if they _were_ Hollows. Nothing deserved to be put at Mayuri's mercy. Nothing. He pitied the Vizard creations too, he really did.

Nevertheless, they needed to be destroyed.

He sighed. "I can guess. I really don't see what Hat-and-Clogs saw in you. You gave life to a beautiful woman, a woman with just as many thoughts, feelings, and choices as any other person, and you broke her down inch by miserable inch just so you would have another tool in battle. _You_ are the kind of person I hate the most!"

Mayuri rolled his eyes dramatically. "Save me your self-righteous preaching, boy. I have no need of petty squabbles right now, but if you _are_ going to try something more, then feel free to face my masterpieces."

He only had time to see Ichigo's knowing smile before the speedster had disappeared from his vision and reappeared in front of the only masked Mod-Soul.

With his sword through its chest.

"I'm willing to take that as permission," the orange-haired captain said wickedly, then turned back to the bloodied body skewered by his sword. "Sorry.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

The explosion put the Cero to shame.

……

Tsukiyomi wasn't about to let her father do everything. She had been humiliated in their meeting with the captain of the Twelfth Division, and she needed to salvage her pride. She was a _princess_ in Hueco Mundo, one of the strongest beings there there were, and yet she too had been played like a fool.

She was scared of death; it was one of the few things even she would admit to being afraid of. Normally death would mean going to Soul Society, or even Hueco Mundo, but death in spirit meant recycling; memories gone, soul reused. It meant _death_ death. However, she had been given the one thing a person should never give to a desperate person.

A way out.

She had been told by not only the freakish scientist, but also by her own parents that it was possible for her to avoid her fate, that it was possible for her to 'complete' herself and _live_. Now every neuron, electron, and proton in her body was aimed towards that one goal: life, _and_ anything that stood in its way. Mayuri Kurotsuchi was going to pay for what he had done to her, and he was going to pay for each tear she had shed with his own blood.

The reiatsu in the air was disconcerting, because she knew it wasn't any of the Vizards she knew, and the Vizards she knew were the only ones there were to know of. It didn't bother her though; they were nothing to be afraid of in her mind. Masaki trailed behind her as she bounded on the rooftops to the source, and her face betrayed her anxiety.

"_**Don't worry Masaki, Kai and I will be fine. You know we wouldn't die that easily,"**_ is what she said, but she only truly meant some of it. Death was never something to trifle with; she had been taught that well.

Masaki seemed torn. "But!"

"_**But what!?"**_ She snapped, and instantly regretted it. She had been on edge ever since their meeting with Mayuri, and her control was a hair's breadth away from breaking. Even though that was a very, very bad thing, in this case she was glad, because that meant she could show what she felt for just a little while before it was gone. _**"I'm…sorry. It's just a lot to absorb all at once."**_ Masaki opened her mouth to speak, and she cut her off right away. _**"No! It won't do any good to wish it had been me instead of you!"**_ Her gaze softened when she saw Masaki's devastated face, and she winced as she turned her head back to face forward. _**"You're my twin sister,"**_ she said softly, _**"I would do anything for you, and I know you would for me too. To be honest…I'm glad my little sister doesn't have to deal with this, and if it meant sparing you from this again I'd choose the same life no matter how many times the situation was gone over."**_

Masaki wanted to cry, but they were happy tears. "You can be an evil, royal pain in the ass, but when it comes right down to it you're one of the most loving, compassionate people I know."

Tsukiyomi chuckled and _smiled_. _**"Don't spread it around, I've got a reputation to keep."**_ She drew her sword as the ground shook and a plume of smoke was visible in the near distance. _**"Looks like the fireworks've finally started! It's payback time, freak!"**_

Her sister merely nodded grimly and drew her zanpakutou too.

They were in for one hell of a battle, she could sense it. She stiffened and spun when a source of reiatsu appeared beside them all of a sudden, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw it was only Kin, and she too looked ready for battle.

"Where's Kaien?" she asked immediately. He hadn't looked too good when he had rushed out, and the last thing they needed was for one of them to lose control while in Soul Society. Hell, the last thing they needed was for one of them to lose control, _period_.

"He said he was going to be fine, but he wanted me to get either your mom or dad, whichever one was available just in case."

Masaki got this sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach, and she couldn't let it go no matter how hard she tried. "Dad's a bit busy it would seem, and I think Mom was going to try and find him once we left."

Kin sighed in relief. "That's good to know. I'm sure he'll catch up with us later then, so for now why don't we go get some revenge?"

Tsukiyomi smiled devilishly. _**"You took the words right out of my mouth."**_

……

It was insane. It was damn unbelievable.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

There had been nothing left of the body when the smoke cleared, even the blood had evaporated in the intense heat caused by the attack being unleashed while embedded in its body. However, what had happened later showed just how hard the battle was going to be. Mayuri had simply stepped forward…and picked up the _black_ gikongan pill.

"I told you I had my reservations about your threat. That certainly was an impressive attack, but even if the body is destroyed I can simply insert the Mod-Soul into another gigai. You'll find these pills significantly more versatile than their mass-produced counterparts. You're fighting an endless battle."

The others had yet to move, even after seeing one of their own literally blown to bits in front of them. Ichigo gritted his teeth. "You'll have trouble if they're all destroyed before you have a chance to get more gigais. Then there'll only be you!"

Mayuri sighed. "I did warn you, but now you're simply irritating me. Be gone like a good little boy!" He raised his hand with the strange remote in it, and pressed a small button. Instantaneously awareness seemed to come to all the dolls, and in complete unison they drew their swords and raised their hands to their foreheads.

Ichigo chuckled uneasily. "Aw damn it all!"

And it just progressed from there.

Within seconds he had been assaulted from every side, every angle, by masked faces with dead yellow eyes staring at him. How they had named zanpakutous he had absolutely no idea, but the fact was they did, and their abilities were nothing to laugh at. It was a monthly event to have a huge free-for-all with the Vastro-Lorde in Hueco Mundo, but with that their abilities were restricted to the forms they took at release. In this case Mayuri's observation about the Vizard and Arrancar really made sense. He knew that without will or even consciousness, Bankai would be impossible, so at least he had that to be thankful for.

He sliced skillfully, as if he were fighting Hollows, and he usually never met dead air. It was the single most disturbing fight he had ever been in. The fake Vizards showed no emotion, made no noise when they were cut, and the only indicator of life was the blood that came from their wounds. They were merciless, mindless killing machines; their freedom destroyed until they couldn't even voice their pain anymore.

Ichigo on the other hand, he could grunt his pain all too well. He was facing over a hundred _things_ that put some of the highest ranking Arrancar to shame. He knew sooner or later he was going to have to call out his mask, but that would put even more strain on the air. He doubted there were too many unseated officers within a few miles still standing with all the reiatsu in the air already.

He sucked in air sharply when he was caught off guard and a long whip-like zanpakutou had caught his arm in mid-air, and right after he was thrown to the ground. "Damn it!!" he hollered as he rolled and brought up his blade with a crescent moon of deadly black energy following it. The things adapted fast, and worked surprisingly well together for not having any thoughts. Most immediately dodged what they knew to be a killing move but he managed to catch one, and the now armless body fell to the ground without a sound other than the heavy breathing as it tried to get back up, regardless of the fact it only had one arm left.

An explosion of energy erupted behind him and he had been too focused on the others to see it coming. It hit him dead in the back and launched him forward like a pinball into the bumpers, because he was soon tossed around the many armed enemies just like the game. This definitely wasn't going according to plan. He had only managed to destroy one so far, and though he had injured far more, they all had that annoying regenerative medicine that Mayuri always kept with him.

This was going to hurt, both him _and_ them, but right now it was the only way to get himself to stop moving. He didn't want the injuries to be ones he couldn't deal with later on in the battle. "Hadou Ninety! BLACK COFFIN!!"

Like the Reaper himself, the darkness enclosed, and thankfully he was able to make it out of the blast radius just in time. It did manage to capture at least ten that had been following him though, but he couldn't even smile when the black dissipated and the bloody bodies fell lifelessly to the ground. Their pills simply rolled from their mouths and more rushed by and snatched them up. He hadn't used the Kidou's full potential, because that would have taken too much out of him. The Eternal Destruction spells were dangerous to begin with, but with enemies that couldn't even be killed by them he was rapidly running out of options.

He needed to find a way to get rid of those things!! Permanently!

He skidded to a stop as his sandals kicked up dust in his wake, and just as yet another fake rushed at him, a black blur whizzed by his head until when he looked ahead, he saw the fake slump to the ground with a black zanpakutou blazing with dark flames embedded in its skull. The sword retracted when the cloth attached to it was pulled back, and he looked behind him to see his oldest daughter standing on the air above him, twirling the flaming blade around her wrist.

"_**And just when I needed a good fight! Must be fate."**_

Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw another Vizard appear behind her, and his mouth opened just in time for her to spin backwards and slice right through the gigai's neck. He was almost disturbed by how calmly she went for the vital points on the bodies, but he guessed she had to have known that what they were dealing with weren't actual Soul Reapers or Vizards. The second her first kill had coughed up its pill she had already known.

"Wake up Dad! We've got work to do!" another voice called out, and he looked to his front to see Masaki had taken point defending his unprotected areas, and she was single-handedly fighting of five Vizards without her mask.

He wanted to reprimand them, tell them to get away, but at the moment he had to admit to himself that he did need help, if not just to keep some of the fakes occupied while he went in for the captain controlling them all. He steeled himself. "Thanks girls! Let's get this show on the road!"

He would apologize to any officers affected later, right now, he needed his mask.

The battle had just been kicked up a notch with the appearance of Ichigo and Masaki's masks and with Kin helping out, speeding alongside them, the injuries were getting easier and easier to avoid. Sure, the fakes may have finesse, but they lacked the raw power of the Adjucha and Vastro-Lorde, as well as the killing instinct. They were literally tools, but they were tools under the control of one very skilled in the art of war and torture. For that reason alone they had to be destroyed.

Kin had forgotten what it was like to fight without Shunkou, and the fight with Benitenchi had amplified her speed farther than she ever would have thought. By being forced to fight without Shunpo her natural endurance and speed increased, and that meant her other skills were boosted without her knowledge. That was all too apparent as she dodged slash after slash and skill after skill. Demon Art, special technique, regular attack, it didn't matter; she flew through them all like time had stopped just for her.

_Incredible…is this really my power?_ She thought as she stabbed her sword through the gut of one the gigais that had charged her. To her horror the thing seemed unaffected by her strike, and instead raised its own sword to strike at her head. Instinct flashed through her, and before she was even aware of what she was doing she had let go of her sword and slapped her hands on the thing's face before the words leapt from her lips. "Hadou Thirty-Three: Blue Fire Crash!"

The spell vaporized the head her hands were on and blew through anything unfortunate enough to be in its path as it cruised forward to no particular target, until with a mighty explosion it hit the nearest wall. Kin couldn't restrain the victorious laugh that escaped her. "Take that!!" Sometimes she even surprised herself with her power.

She had to quickly take up her sword again, because with those she had destroyed even more came at her, and she could see the captain popping those pills into even more bodies. She couldn't release her sword, because a blunt force object would make no sense against things that _needed_ to be killed in order to be stopped. Sharp things were the best for that. Dust shot into the air beside her and she saw a masked Masaki pull herself out of a hole she had created at impact. Her blade was the same as always, in fact in the entire time Kin had known her she had never once seen her release her blade.

She was a natural with the regular katana, and her training was shown in how fluidly she moved with the blade. It wasn't a weapon, it was an extension of her arm. With every strike sent her way she parried in a way that minimized the shock up her arm and perfectly reflected it where she wanted. More than a few times she had blocked an oncoming attack only to slide her blade to the side, and Kin could only watch as the attack glided down her blade and right through the head of an attacker that had come up behind her. She wasn't even using her full strength, instead she was using the opponent's strength against them. Her dance with Ikki was awesome to behold, but she was no pushover by herself either.

A laugh to her right and Tsukiyomi was seen rancorously setting foes ablaze with enough emotion on her face for Kin to be worried. The instantly cauterized wounds caused by her flaming zanpakutou weren't enough for the teen, no, she could only be satisfied by looking into the dull eyes of the foes she blocked against before her sword instantly combusted them and they were reduced to mere piles of ash; that infuriatingly versatile pill gleaming unhurt in the rubble.

Ichigo was getting annoyed. He was destroying gigais left and right and so were his allies, and yet they just kept coming back. He wanted to get to Mayuri, he _had_ to get to Mayuri. He raised his arms behind his head to block the attack from behind, a tactic they seemed to be fond of, and with a flex of his muscles his sword had cut through the blade pressing against his and went right up through the masked face above it. Still in the same movement, Ichigo simply brought his arms down like an axe and cleaved through the one in front of him too as he ducked and twirled, sending his sword's signature attack into the one flying at his seemingly unbalanced form.

The pace was relentless, and under any other circumstances he would have been enjoying himself. However, if he didn't do something one of his friends would not only have the love of his life taken away, but also the life that had been spawned from that love. He wasn't going to let that happen. **"Dammit, just die already!!!"** he screamed as he fired a Cero into the new batch of resuscitated Vizards running at him.

His spine went stiff when he heard a pained female cry above the noise of the battle. He spun on the balls of his feet to see Kin clutching her leg, where a zanpakutou had been stabbed clear through her thigh. She was like a wounded animal in a den of lions, because the others honed in on that cry like a mating call.

"**KIN!!"** he shouted fearfully as he shot over to try and protect her. Kaien would kill himself if Kin died, and the wound on her leg was very close to being a fatal one. He couldn't make it, not even _he_ could go fast enough to get there in time! He needed to—

He froze when the scarf around her neck sprung to unholy life, and each individual strand uncoiled and fired through the foreheads of every Vizard that had been coming at her, killing them instantly.

Then the air gained physical form.

Ichigo stumbled as a reiatsu darker and more demonic then his own unexpectedly pressed down on him and all the other combatants with crushing force. It wasn't as powerful as his, but the sheer amount of killing intent in the spiritual substance had even the mindless creations shaking severely in fear.

"**Oh no…"** he breathed out in a near-silent whisper.

A body fell from the sky and crashed to the ground below with a huge flare of dust on impact. Before the granules of dirt even settled he knew what was there, for a vicious hiss of Hollowized breath came out in greeting. The dust fell to the ground faster than he wanted, almost like even the grains of sand in the air were afraid of the presence they had heralded. The grey-green skin came into view first, but Ichigo's eyes widened in terror at the white clothing on the young man, stained all but completely red except for a few white patches.

Dark laughter coursed through the air as the head turned to evaluate the scene he had dropped into. Even though Kin was in a significant amount of pain, her heart almost stopped when she realized the eyes tattooed over with orange flames were _open_.

And there was nothing to look at.

He had no eyes. Only vacant space looked back at her from the open eyelids as blood continued to pour like tears from them. His grin was wide and inhuman, and she was sure even though there were no eyes that could be seen, they were glinting maniacally. She hadn't dared move, not after the scarf that she treasured like her own life had come to a life of its own and killed all her attackers. They were identical to Kaien's tentacle-like weapons in his Hollow form, and now she knew that was exactly what they were. He was covered in blood, and she could see the scars open and oozing, though the blood never fell from his body.

It was terrifying. He was terrifying.

……

Ichigo turned to Masaki. **"This is getting out of hand. This isn't the place for me to be releasing my reiatsu like what he needs, so use that Kidou Isane taught you and have Sora get over here right away! Have Asuka ready the Garganta for him, we can't have any holdups!"**

Masaki nodded. She saw her father's plan.

……

"K-Kaien…no…" Kin whimpered. She had helped him! He had told her she had!! Why was he like this!? Why was he here!? _Dammit what's going on here!?!?!?_

He sniffed at the air experimentally, and if he had eyes Kin was sure they had just fixed themselves on her. None of the enemies had dared move, even under the opposite orders of Mayuri. He walked towards her like he wasn't used to using his own legs, but it still got him there. The sword was still embedded in her leg, and it hurt like nothing else, but she could only blame herself. If she had had Shunkou activated it never would have made it to her, let alone into this kind of wound. She had been overconfident, and that had been her downfall. Now she was helpless as this…_thing_ that looked like her fiancé walked towards her.

He crouched down and stared at her with the twin voids that occupied where his eyes had once been, and she gulped worriedly. She cringed when he leaned forward, but to her surprise he merely stuck his nose into her collarbone and inhaled deeply. His face turned curious and he moved down to the sword in her leg, where once again he sniffed like a confused dog. Wary, the long, oddly-colored tongue that had Kin cringing worse than before stretched from his mouth, and the second it had touched the red liquid flowing from her leg he recoiled and snarled at the Vizards that were once again moving, which stopped them cold.

He didn't look confused anymore, and Kin couldn't understand why. The monstrous Kaien held his bloody arms out to her like he wanted to show her something before he motioned to her leg. **"Blo…od…. Pa…rtn…er…. Mi…ne…"** The words came out slowly, broken past a voice box not used to making anything other than feral noises and a mind not adapted to human speech.

Kin couldn't make anything of his words, but he seemed to be honestly trying to communicate with her. He seemed to understand he wasn't being understood, and so he leaned forward again and Kin went stiff when he pressed his thin lips against hers. Her eyes widened. His kiss was _tender_. Not forceful and angry, or hungry and needy; no, it was gentle, tender, exactly like the kiss at the Soukyoku. He remembered her! He knew she was something important to him!

Again, he tried to speak. **"My…blo…od…you…ha…ve. Part…ner."** He was quickly getting a grasp of the language, because already he had succeeded in making his words easier to understand. He put his fingers to her lips and she gasped. He was saying she had his blood! He was referring to the lake, when she had accidentally bit into his shoulder!

Quite possibly, that had just saved her life.

She always wondered why he hadn't recognized her the first time he had transformed, because according to Asuka even the most low-level Hollow recognized a mate, though most low level hollows didn't even understand the concept. _Now_ he recognized her though. He was terrifying, but he was still her Kaien deep down.

He jerked in front of her and a shadow was cast over them from the man now standing behind them. "How amazing, so you were actually hiding something like that under your reiatsu control? And you even inspired enough fear in my creations to cut off their receptors to my orders. You've just stepped up a notch on my importance list, I must get you back to the lab right away," Mayuri said excitedly as he held his released zanpakutou.

The one which had just been stabbed into Kaien's back.

Kin watched as he slumped to the ground, and even though he had never been cut by that particular zanpakutou before, he wasn't going into his usual convulsions. Of course she knew from her father that Ashisogi Jizou cut off all movement signals to the muscles, even if they were completely autonomous reactions. She had been warned because she relied almost completely on her movement, and it hadn't even been that to incapacitate her. She felt like an idiot, but thankfully that poison also meant Mayuri was none the wiser to his ability's side-effect.

With the fall of the source of their fear, the fake Vizards were much more inclined to move again, and Kin was still out of action. However, now that action had been taken, Ichigo and the others were done watching as well.

"**Get. The HELL. Away from my SON!"** Ichigo shouted as he threw away any notion of holding back and went right into his White Transformation. With a _swish_ of his sword and an array of white light emanating from it, all of the Vizards in front of him found themselves without their upper halves.

Mayuri looked over at the interruption. "I have something far more interesting than this little match right now, so I'm going to stop fooling around with you. Bankai." The release came unexpectedly at the end of the sentence, but it triggered the full release of the Soul Cutter in his hand nonetheless. Soon the gigantic abomination that seemed like a horrible cross between a caterpillar and a cape-wearing baby had filled a good deal of the area as purple smoke wafted from its mouth.

Ichigo coughed and he could see his daughters and Kin doing the same. He had heard about this Bankai before, and he knew now that without the antidote or some other way to eliminate the poison they were dead. The battle had taken on a whole new seriousness.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

……

Kin was staring at Kaien, who was still bleeding and yet not bleeding, completely immobile on the ground as he snarled up at the captain looking over him in wonderment. Her scarf had returned to normal, but now that she knew where to look, she knew his tendril weapons were merely extensions of his hair, otherwise her scarf wouldn't have responded like that. Since she was so close, she could see something moving underneath his skin, and though it sickened her, to some extent she was actually happy, because it meant he hadn't given up yet.

More like he had just been pissed off.

She watched the downward progression as from his head down, the movement of millions of tiny snake-like threads could be seen moving under his skin. Mayuri couldn't see anything since Kaien was still on his stomach facing away from him, but Kin could see it. She watched as they made their way to his fingers and toes, and from there she could see them tighten in place, like they had wrapped themselves around each of his individual strands of sinew in place of the now-defunct muscles. When they tightened she couldn't even see the bulges anymore. Then she saw his finger twitch.

He was moving! Even with Ashisogi Jizou's specialized nerve poison flowing through him, he was moving! And she could tell from his face, he was far beyond just _pissed_.

With a savage howl he leapt to his feet with his makeshift muscles moving his body. Mayuri was so surprised he didn't even react when the Hollow Kaien pulled back his fist and punched him clean in the face, which sent him flying back into his Bankai. Nothing happened after that, in fact it was like Kaien had been entranced. He stood stock straight as he sniffed the air repeatedly, and then his empty eye-sockets fixated themselves on the golden-headed creature.

With no warning he ran full speed into the Bankai's _mouth_.

"KAIEN!!!" Kin screamed as the creature ate him without hesitation, like it had invited the man into its mouth. She coughed heavily and realized the poison was taking effect, yet she couldn't even move.

"He'll be fine. The murderous aura hasn't left the air yet," a low male voice said, and she looked up to see Renji Abarai standing beside her with Hanatarou at his side.

She didn't question his observation, because it only took a second to confirm it herself. "Wh-What about the poison?" she rasped, looking at the two unaffected people beside her. Something caught her eye and she looked at their arms. She gasped.

The Hornet's Crest.

"I've already hit anyone who may have gotten any in their system, even the Hollow. Relax princess, this will all be over soon," a feminine voice said from her other side, and Kin looked over in surprise to see the person she had been looking forward to seeing the most.

"Auntie Soi-Fong!" she cried happily.

The hard-looking woman smiled tenderly at the youth. "I'm sorry. I would have come sooner had I known things would escalate to this level. We can't allow the Shihouin heir to the Second Division to die after all! I'm—"

Her words were cut off when the gigantic Bankai behind them started bubbling and screaming. Like a banshee the creature howled, until with a deafening _boom_ it burst into a million pieces, and they could see Mayuri's stunned expression from his place beside it. When the smoke started clearing they could make out Kaien's outline, but when it dissipated completely Kin could hear Renji's harsh intake of breath. He didn't look like he did when he went in, and instead he seemed to be wearing some kind of odd dress-like covering with four two-toned wings spreading from his back.

"He ate it…I don't believe it, he bloody-well jumped in there to _eat_ that!" Renji muttered in disbelief. Even after nearly two decades, it hadn't decomposed.

Kaien…had absorbed Fornicaras.

He didn't hold the form for long, but he had gotten what he wanted. An Espada release wasn't something one came across every day, especially when there were so little of them left. The Hollow Kaien had been able to sniff out the corpse even though it had been twenty years since the Winter War. It was a useful form, but right then the only thing Kaien had going through his mind was: _Hurt, revenge, kill._

It wasn't a battle anymore, it was a _bloodbath._

The grey-green Hollow tore into the Vizards like a wounded animal. Whether it was limb, head, sword, it didn't matter; if it was swung at him, he tore it off. He had innumerable tendrils at his disposal, and they sliced through just as many enemies as he did with his bare hands. He was a bloodied mess making a bloody mess, and Kin nearly vomited as the scene rapidly deteriorated into something one would expect from a slasher film.

Hanatarou knelt down beside her and she flinched when she felt something prick her arm. "What'd you do!?"

He smiled gently. "I merely gave you some pain medication. You'll need it when I do _this_." Right when he said 'this' he pulled the sword from her leg, and she cried out as the blade was pulled from her bone. He knew regular healing wasn't going to be enough for a wound like this, but he wasn't the seventh seat of his division for nothing. His zanpakutou was ideal for these kinds of situations. With a simple slash the wound had been absorbed and Hisagomaru had been filled to capacity. With a flicker of movement he had slashed the filled weapon at the battlefield and surprisingly, a Vizard fell to his attack.

What they saw next froze their blood. Kaien launched himself at the corpse before picking out the gleaming black pill and _popping it into his mouth_. "Kaien don't!!"

With a sickening _crunch_ they realized he hadn't swallowed it; no, he was _eating_ it.

He had found a way to get rid of the pills for good, and from the way his reiatsu was expanding like a Gillian evolving to an Adjucha, they knew it wasn't _just_ getting rid of it.

"_**Why didn't I think of that!?"**_ A maniacal voice asked loudly. Tsukiyomi had lost her fight. She was far too mad at Mayuri, the fake Vizards, and the fact that she once again had to rely on someone else, this time for relief from the poison. With angry strokes she cleaved through the remaining Vizard, eating each pill she stole from the burnt bodies when she was done. Just like Kaien, her reiatsu grew each time. They really were partly Hollow, they were getting stronger from eating those with high spiritual pressure, even if they were mindless gikongan pills.

Kin couldn't let this go on. She had power now, and though that power may not be able to get Kaien back to normal, hopefully it would be able to do _something_. The others beside her gasped as she stood with her reiatsu flared around her, growing and pulsing as she pushed it to the surface. She had to stop him, her, _them_. She could still fight, so now she would. She didn't have time to waste on a grandiose scene before she called her out, she was needed and she was needed _now!_

"BAN KAI!"

The explosion of wind halted the battle, and for those moments it was like existence itself held its breath. When the smoke cleared, something which seemed to be quite common during this battle, Kin was revealed, wearing a form-fitting ivory breastplate that matched the staff of her Shikai perfectly. However, it was what was _behind_ her that had their attention. Red wings were stretched behind her back, innumerable feathers made of translucent ruby as they hung in the air seemingly by their own will. Inside each one glowed the same blue sparks as the orbs on the ends of her zanpakutou's initial release, and a second later the reason was revealed.

Kin had activated Shunkou. Her Bankai ran on the same principle as her Shikai apparently, and its strength was heightened by the highly destructive skill. When she pointed her hands forward the feathers all spread out, until like pointers they each straightened towards a target. They…weren't wings. No, the feathers only made that illusion when they weren't spread out.

"Hadou Four: White Lightning!"

And from _each_ of those feathers, the spell came forth.

Everyone on the field of combat was forced to dodge as the bolts came at them from every direction, and only a few Vizards made it out unscathed. It was awe-inspiring at the amount of destruction that could be made from four words with that zanpakutou. Soi-Fong was gaping in disbelief, but Ichigo at least was smiling. It had worked after all.

"Okay, everyone stop or I'll start going into bigger numbers!"

Renji and the others had come to make sure the situation didn't get out of hand, and from the looks of it, that was exactly what was happening. However, they weren't to get involved with the fighting directly, they had been ordered.

Kaien though, was under no such authority.

Now Mayuri on the other hand couldn't believe the turn the situation had taken in such a short amount of time. He still had many of the pills left, and for once his subordinates didn't fail him and in the nick of time he had more bodies. His Bankai's main body had been destroyed, but thankfully he still had the normal zanpakutou that came with it to rely on. He wasn't completely useless when it came to combat.

He watched as the Hollow Kaien tore through his ranks, now using a different zanpakutou every time. His mouth was nearly watering by now. He wanted to experiment on the specimen in front of him so badly it hurt. He was a marvel, a miracle, an absolute anomaly that shouldn't ever have been able to exist. Oh what he could _discover!_ After putting the last of his pills into the new bodies, an expert use of Shunpo had him right behind the person responsible for nearly single-handedly destroying two-thirds of his army.

With no gentle touch, he roughly grabbed him by the hair and put his sword at his throat from behind. "I know you're aware of your mortality, you wonderful mystery you. So you should know that I could kill you right now. Come quietly and we can avoid that. I would hate to kill off such a unique specimen."

Even Ichigo froze. He now had a trump card, and he could do whatever he wanted thanks to it. Even Kin with her omni-directional Bankai couldn't do anything.

However, those that could see Kaien's face only saw an unnaturally wide grin stretch over his face. **"You…fell…for…it. Once…a…night…every…night…touch…them…and…find…zan…pak…tou…de…stro…yed…!"** Though it came out broken and slow, it was understandable, and since Mayuri's sword was still the remnant left by his Bankai, and thus already released, instantly it blew apart.

Metastacia's power, no doubt about it.

"What!?" The blue-haired captain cried in astonishment.

Ichigo knew something had to happen right away or his son was going to become too powerful to do anything against. However with a flick of the scientist's hand the remote had once again reappeared, and with Kaien still standing straight, in an instant five Vizards had appeared and each one had their zanpakutou through his abdomen.

"**KAIEN!"**

"_**KAIEN!"**_

"_**KAIEN!!"**_

Ichigo, Masaki, and Tsukiyomi all cried out at once. He slumped to the ground, where Mayuri angrily kicked him against the nearest wall.

"You arrogant brat!!! I'm going to enjoy slicing you up until every one of those hairs throughout your body is nothing more than a barbershop's memory!"

This time Kaien _was_ panting, and the blood was actually escaping the open wounds, where before it was like the blood had been kept in the scar tissue through sheer force of will. Even if it couldn't be seen outwardly because of the nerve poison, being simultaneously stabbed by five zanpakutous was putting the young man, Hollowized or not, through a tremendous amount of pain. Since they had gone clear through his stomach, that didn't bode well for the healing factor either.

"**Masaki! Zanpakutou, now!! We can't let him continue!"** Ichigo shouted frantically, and Masaki instantly understood.

She promptly pulled the mask from her face and as soon as Ikki had materialized, the inner Hollow had already drawn her sword and faced her opposite. They each put a hand on each other's sword hilt and in perfect unison cried out: _**"Synchronize, Tamasine!"**_

The black and white swords glowed in their owners' hands and melted onto them, until when they were done both Masaki and Ikasam were wearing fighting gloves, one white and one black. On the tops of their hands, in the middle of the metal material were ornate clock hands, both of the opposing color of the hand they were on. The same was true of their eyes. Masaki now had one completely Hollowized eye, and Ikki now had one completely _normal_ eye. There was something else different too.

Their breathing, blinks, muscle movements, everything about them was in complete…synch. Like they were the same person they clapped their hands together and pointed them at the battlefield.

"Lord of Time…"

"…_**embrace thy children."**_

They didn't even talk in complete sentences anymore, one started and the other completed. It was amazing to watch, as two people acted in complete harmony. It was a step beyond their swordplay, and when Kin thought about it she realized that their unique swordsmanship was likely a side-effect of such a dramatic release. What was more amazing was that every single person in the field of vision they had pointed at had stopped moving like they had been petrified.

It was a truly amazing ability. Together, they had the capacity to stop _time._

They had never tried this particular ability on Kaien before because they hadn't known how his blood would react to it, but when they looked at him they saw something far worse. It had done absolutely _nothing._ He was still bleeding, and he was still trying to move. He wanted to fight, even though he was seriously injured. It was a major downside of the transformation.

"Oh…"

"…_**shit!"**_

"He's not affected…

"…_**by our zanpakutou!"**_

"It must be 'cause he's…"

"… _**been cut by it before!"**_

They even spoke the same amount of words each time they talked. It was plain creepy.

"Release me this instant!!" Mayuri ordered irately. It only cut off movement, just like the nerve poison of Ashisogi Jizou, so things like talking were still simple to accomplish. "I will get my Lieutenant back, mark my words! As soon as I've returned her to normal—"

They were the last words Mayuri Kurotsuchi ever spoke.

No one had expected it, no one had seen it coming, the only thing that had been seen was the flash of movement before the sword had been sliced through his white neck and his head had fallen to the ground. The woman holding the bloody blade wept loudly as she took in the dead body; the truly, honestly _dead_ body of the captain of the Twelfth Division. She shook violently even as she pointed her hand at the disembodied head. "Hadou Fi-Fifty-four: Abolishing Flame."

And with that, the head had been removed from existence. Nemu Kurotsuchi stood there, one hand holding her bloody sword, the other clasped to her growing belly. "F-Father…" It was only one of a handful of times she had ever addressed him like that, yet another thing he had deprived her of. "I'm…I'm so sorry!!" She cried loudly and fell to her knees in tears. "I couldn't!! I couldn't let you take away my baby!! I w-won't let you hurt m-me, o-or anything I love…not ever again!!!"

Hanatarou walked over to her, still in shock over the death of a captain, but relieved beyond any description of the word at the same time. Free. They were…free. He let her clasp onto him as she cried and he held her comfortingly, it was the only thing he _could_ do. Even though he had been twisted, sadistic, and insane above all else, he had still been the one to have given her life. He had been her father, and she had just killed him.

It was like the entire area hadn't been expecting this sudden end, but one by one it seemed to sink into the combatants that their fight was over. The fake Vizards had stopped moving with the death of their creator, the only one to have control over them. Mayuri Kurotsuchi was no more. The fight…was over.

However, Kaien still remained in peril, whether his Hollow existence wanted to admit it or not. Masaki and Ikki sighed before clapping their hands again and time was restored to the bodies, when at last Mayuri's beheaded husk fell to the ground, as did all the Vizards now that they had no one to give them orders. They had been able to do nothing for Kaien, and to be honest they didn't know if _anyone_ could do anything for Kaien.

As if on some divine cue, the Garganta opened wide. The Soul Reapers that had gathered at the sight of the Twelfth Division Bankai were quickly panicking, but Ichigo calmed them down right away before they did anything drastic. "Don't worry! It's help you idiots! Help!"

The orange head of hair could be seen even before he had jumped out of the Garganta, and the last thing they saw before the hole closed was a twirl of blue hair. Asuka had wanted to come, desperately in fact. If her Prince and Princess were in danger, it was only natural. Nevertheless, she had followed her orders, as much as it ate at her insides to do so.

Hirenkyaku took him to the sources of the reiatsu in an instant, and seeing Ichigo still completely Hollowized was something he hadn't been expecting. The entire area he stepping into was bathed in a thin layer of blood, and he could see Tsukiyomi cutting open more bodies on the ground. He was greatly relieved when he saw her pull out the gikongan, which meant they weren't really souls. He would hate to have to stop her only for her to realize she had murdered countless people. He wouldn't wish that on anyone's conscience.

His breath escaped him when he saw Kaien. He was Hollowized, but he was cut in so many places his grey-green skin might as well have been red. Worse than all of that yet, was that he had five stab wounds—from what he could tell anyways—that went right through his body, and from the way they weren't healing he could only guess they were firsts.

"What in the hell happened here?" he asked as he adjusted his slim glasses. Tsukiyomi's reiatsu was really getting to him, but he had been around her long enough to bear it, even if it was stronger than usual. She looked so beautiful; even battle-torn and openly angry, her pristine white skin still looked amazing. He blushed and adjusted his glasses again. _Not the time Sora, not the time!_

"That doesn't matter right now! Please, can you try to help Kaien??" Masaki asked desperately, her sword already resealed in its sheath, though Ikki was still beside her with the same amount of worry written all over her face.

Sora took a shuddering breath in. He was wary to even get _close_ to the young man right then, but thankfully his power could be used at a distance. "Do those cuts go all the way through his body?" he asked beyond hope. A cut was significantly different from a stab wound. Cuts only damaged the outer layer, the epidermis, but stabs often chipped into bone, and usually internal organs too. This was what they had all been afraid of. If his organs had been cut and they too were scarred from completely healing, internal bleeding was inevitable, as was…death.

From the devastated looks on the two identical faces in front of him, Sora didn't even need to get a verbal response. "Dammit," he whispered angrily. "I'll do my best." He placed his ringed hands out toward the young man still sitting pitifully against a wall, trying his best to move even though his body was in no condition to do anything like it. "Souten Kishun, I Reject!"

The fairies shot off his fingers and over to the convulsing body, but just as they were about to encircle him a hand slapped to the side and _shattered_ the oval about to encompass him.

Silence.

Nejibana stood there, as regal as ever. Crystal tears were falling from her pale blue eyes, and from her appearance alone they could tell that she had been crying for quite some time. She stood protectively in front of her partner, her oceanic hair still floating elegantly in the air behind her. _"You cannot help him any longer,"_ she said, and her smooth, spring-water-like voice could almost be felt as having been taken over by the pure, audible sadness that all tears displayed in physical form. It couldn't even be described accurately, it was like the sadness that could never be expressed but through tears was vocalizing itself, piercing itself into their very souls. The queen of the raging ocean was weeping, and in her voice were the cries of hundreds of thousands of tears.

"No…" Masaki whimpered, "YOU'RE LYING!! WE CAN STILL HELP HIM!! HE'S NOT DYING! HE'S NOT!!!!"

Nejibana swallowed the giant lump in her throat, and she didn't even try to stop the water falling from her eyelids. She didn't answer as she watched Masaki and Ikki dissolve into tears as they fell to their knees, and instead turned to Sora, who himself was standing there in frozen disbelief. _"Tend to her, young one. She needs you more than he does."_

And she turned away.

……

As much as it pained him to admit it, she was right. He _could_ do something for Tsukiyomi, but it had been made abundantly clear that it was not his place to try and help Kaien. Wordlessly, he nodded solemnly to her even though it was a pointless gesture and walked over to the white young woman, still bathing in carnage as she tried to deprive more fake bodies of their mindless cores. He knew he should have known better, but that didn't stop him from putting his hand on her shoulder. Maybe it was the depth of the moment that halted his brain processes, or maybe the chance to touch her was too tempting to resist, but nonetheless he had immediately been blown into the wall behind her.

Tsukiyomi had reacted on impulse, and even in her completely emotional mind she still had to see who she had just punched. This being, this personality hidden deep in her psyche, the one allowed to love, hate, _experience_ to every possible extreme froze solid upon witnessing an orange head of hair now smeared with blood. One frame of his glasses was cracked and they were askew on his face, but it was the wound on his head that brought that emotional being to the brink.

She knew him. Like Ikki, she too was like another being, trapped inside, constantly wanting out. She could do everything her host didn't allow her to do, she was the side of herself not even she wanted to admit existed. She was the part of her that wanted to try crazy things, that wanted to run amok, or just plain run period. She was the part of humanity that every human had but most had the opposing angel called common sense to balance out. She was spontaneity on steroids, emotions at their purest, most basic level. She loved what she wanted to love, hated what she wanted to hate, and wanted to go through life in the moment where reason and consequences didn't matter. Constantly…searching.

Yet she recognized the face, the bleeding head of the teen now only half-conscious. She had played with him long before their time in Hueco Mundo, trained with him as he struggled through his inability to use some of the most basic Quincy techniques as he watched his older brother master one after another. She had been there when his rings had manifested, when the only one _she_ had given him had turned into his only method of attacking, as the others turned into his ability to repel death and save life. He was the one she constantly wished was an Arrancar, just so she would be able to show physical affection without hurting him.

For him, she had actually _wanted_ to let this side of herself free, just so she could tell him she might…like him.

And now, just like in so many of her nightmares, he was hurt. Because of her.

The manic glint that had been growing steadily in her eyes as her reiatsu continued to swell with each pill she devoured, dimmed almost completely as she finally comprehended the fact that she had nearly killed the only man her age she would trust with her life. Oscar was nice, but he was too unpredictable and dare she even say, violent, for her to trust absolutely. As unlikely as it was, it was a human that held all the attributes she would look for in a significant other. He acted just like she did, calmly, but with pride. He was proud he was a Quincy, if only in name. He was proud of what he could do, of the modest—if not highly developed for their basic function—Quincy techniques he _could_ use. He was stubborn, but not overly so, and he had an…airheadedness about him that made her want to smile at every lame joke he told, even if he could keep his emotions and his cool hidden deep behind the panes of glass that shielded his eyes, more so than his older brother could ever hope to achieve. He was simply Sora Ishida.

She knew how her dad would react if he knew she was falling for an Ishida, but she couldn't deny that it felt wonderful to give herself up to the wind as she fell from that tall peak and see where it took her, whether that be to the sunny shores of happiness or the deadly rapids of rejection.

This…was what she always wanted to experience. This feeling, show this emotion as herself, not her strange Hollowized side that took everything to the extreme. This blissful unknown between love and friendship that took a human heart to either overcome or abandon, the human heart that had the freedom to make the choice between the two.

In that moment something snapped inside her, something clicked into place. She stood unexpectedly in a meadow of yellow flowers, clouds floated sideways in the sky above. She watched, frozen in time as she saw herself, her _human_ self with dark, _Hollowized_ eyes smile sadly, as if resigning herself to her fate. As she looked closer however she saw that it wasn't herself, but it was someone who looked extremely like her. She too had white hair and Hollowized eyes, like she had noticed earlier, but not only was her skin different, but there were also subtle differences in the bone structure of her face, and eyes not thin and seductive, but instead wide and innocent, even with the dark transformation that had overtaken them. This…wasn't her, yet she knew deep down inside that this being, this entity, was what she had been fighting against. She had never thought it had a recognizable form before.

_You finally did it,_ the unlikely doppelganger said, with what may have been deciphered as _happiness_ etched in melancholy deep in her voice.

She tried to speak, tried to say something to the entity, the version of herself that she had been fighting against for the last how many years of her life, but no words would come. Instead, she found her arms lifting, unburdened by the constant nattering that had nearly succeeding in destroying her mental health more times than she would care to admit.

The peachy-skinned, Hollowized person that looked so much like her smiled. _I know. I finally know where I belong. She showed me that when she pointed him to you…and he in turn showed you without even being aware of it. It's funny, I never got to talk with you once, the only thing I thought I could do was help you _feel_. Now, when it's finally time…I find myself wanting to tell you about all the things I felt as I watched us interact and I thought of all the things that could make it better, as I felt all the things you wanted to feel. I guess in the end, the one who had never shown emotion ended up showing the one who only felt emotion what it was like to _truly_ experience, and what living life with emotions was meant to be like. I guess I can say irony did literally kill me!_

She stopped and rubbed her eyes as tears now flowed. _So I guess this is our first and final meeting then. It sucks, but sooner or later this day was going to come. I'm just glad you embraced me sooner rather than later. Six years is far too short, especially when it comes to realizing the true value of feeling. We won't meet again, but I'll always be with you. Goodbye, sister I never met. To Masaki I gave my life, my will so that she could live. To you…I gave my emotions, my future. Everything I wanted to experience and everything I wanted you to experience with the life I had restored._

_I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to live with you, and I'm sorry I was too strong to live without hurting you. Now I finally understand what I wanted to feel, what I felt from mother's song. Masaki and Ikki had it the moment they were born, but now I finally understand too. It's not that I wanted to receive love to understand it, it's I wanted to _give_ it. I wanted to give and receive everything I could, and because of that you had to hide everything that would usually be used to show that. I'm so sorry, but now, I finally, finally know what to say._

With that, she too stretched her arms towards her, and Tsukiyomi couldn't understand it, but she could feel tears falling from her eyes. _I love you Mother, Father, Masaki, Ikasam, and I love you brother I never got the chance to meet. I love you, Tsukiyomi, and this is really goodbye. Thank you, I'll never forget the years I lived through you, and I'm sorry I couldn't give you what you needed without these results._

She smiled sadly as she reached forward and hugged her, where Tsukiyomi found she could do nothing else but clasp on to her desperately, like she didn't want to let this person go no matter how strong the feeling inside her was that this was what needed to be done. Tsuki could feel the warmth flow into her as the youth in her arms started fading, glowing as if by her own light as her existence was at last absorbed.

_I couldn't let my two sisters die after all, even if it was my life you needed._

Realization struck Tsukiyomi like lightning, and suddenly she understood the reason for the tears falling down her eyes. Her sister, her third sister. It wasn't that she was too weak to survive in the womb, it was that she had chosen to give up her life so that the two that _were_ too weak to survive would live.

She fell to her knees as she pounded the grassy, flower-laden ground and tears fell from her eyes. She could feel. She could feel…without worrying about how to feel.

"_**Goodbye…sister who saved my life…I love you too…."**_

And just like that, her reiatsu changed.

She fell back to reality in the second heartbeat it had taken to have the revelation of her inner world, the truth of her very life. She shuddered involuntarily as she felt her reiatsu spike, as something changed in the very core of her being. She could feel the happy tears of the part of herself now past as it fused seamlessly into her spirit, where it belonged for the first time in her life. It was the feel of the burden that had weighed her down for the past five years turn into a blessing, and at the same time she was sad to see the burden go, when she knew what that meant now. The last of their sister's soul was gone now, but paradoxically it lived on in them at the same time.

She felt tears fall from her eyes as she saw the blue oval of his healing powers over his body. He was awake enough to heal himself, she hadn't done anything that couldn't be undone. Tatsuki had finally reappeared after following the commotion, and she felt the drastic change in her daughter's reiatsu, and not just it's frightening volume either. She stood by her, stunned, as she saw the tears not black, but _normal_, fall from her Hollowized eyes.

Tsukiyomi…had completed herself.

Before that could even be fully comprehended, she had run over and thrown herself into the young Ishida just recently healed as she continued weeping, both tears of joy and tears of sadness.

The look on Sora's face was priceless, and he didn't know what to make of the normally calm and collected Tsukiyomi crying into his shoulder, but he did know now was not the time to speak, so he simply embraced her comfortingly and allowed her to cry. He didn't care if this was a dream and he really hadn't saved himself from unconsciousness, if it was real he was going to savor it.

He had the feeling something very drastic had just happened, and when he looked over, he saw another miracle happening on the bloodstained battleground.

……

Nejibana smiled somberly as she watched Tsukiyomi go through everything that she needed to. She had always had everything she needed, the only prerequisite had been that she recognize that. For the one that always fought off emotion even before her soul's powers had been developed, the hardest thing to do was to realize that she actually wanted to receive and reciprocate them.

Kaien was still squirming behind her, but she knew better than anyone that the Hollow had pushed his body far past his limits. Even though the neural poison had been neutralized at the same time as the deadly counterpart that came later thanks to the addition of Suzumebachi; his body had still been put under far too much of a strain. Though using his tendrils to take back control of his uncooperative muscles had been an excellent strategy, it had damaged them at the same time, and with his reiatsu continually pumping out of him rampantly, there had been no greater concentration available to his Hierro, and that was shown in how many new cuts he had on his body. His muscles didn't respond to the stimulus anymore because of the poison, but that didn't mean that his body wasn't reacting at all.

As it was, she doubted he could even stand up anymore. He needed rest, but in his condition he would simply bleed out since his organs couldn't fully heal. Right then, he really was between life and death.

It really was…the end of their time together.

Masaki and Ikki were still crying, and Ichigo and Tatsuki looked like they didn't know how to respond, like their hearts had frozen and numbed them to the situation around them. She took one last look at everyone, her new family she had only been with for such a short time, and silently waved goodbye. She turned slowly and walked over to Kaien, where she knelt down to his level. He was whimpering now, not knowing any other way to express his futility anymore. **"…Kin…"**

That one-worded whisper, that one plea from lips caked in blood came from both aspects of himself, that much she was sure of. He knew. She wiped the tears falling from her eyes and his too, both the bloody and the watery, as she looked at him like a lover to a terminally-ill love.

"_I always knew this day would come,"_ she admitted softly. _"The day you walked into the throne room, I knew you right away. You were my partner, my missing piece, and the person that needed me the most. I could tell from the moment we met what you needed…and I was terrified. I knew even though you looked like everyone else, that really you were just like me, but blessed beyond any description I could think of. You, out of all of us, had the ability to interact with those around you. You weren't restricted to one person, one world, one lonely existence. But I could tell that you were paying for that with your life."_ She hiccupped as her tears resumed and she stroked a hand down the bloodstained cheek of the one she had been with for two lifetimes. She had never imagined it would be so hard to accept.

"_I knew you needed me, you were called to me the second you set foot in that room. I've failed you yet again. I couldn't protect you when you lost your body to Metastacia, I couldn't stop you when your body was tainted further by Glotoneria. Once again…I've failed you. I could have…it took me so long just to get up the courage to return to your side and right then I should have…but I just…I wanted to be with you again! I wanted…redemption."_

She was breaking down. Zanpakutous are no different from humans or souls, they were merely spirits encapsulated in the form of a sword; an immortal shell that will never truly disappear, even when their hosts do. Sooner or later someone else would come along with the ability to wield them, and once more they would appear. It was their greatest strength and their greatest curse.

"_Of course you didn't notice that it was the day after I had rejoined with you that your Hollow hole had disappeared. You would have found out mere seconds later if you had turned into a Shinigami after I had returned to you. But…even then you knew. When I came out to greet you, you somehow knew that what I was seeing was the person I had failed, not the person I could still protect. You've always known me inside and out; the only reason you never tried to obtain Bankai was because you didn't want to take over Ukitake's position more than you already had. You never wanted to force me to submit. You were brash, careless, more idiotic than most anyone I had ever been exposed to before, but you were the purest soul I had ever come into contact with._

"_When I saw you again, when I felt you after decades of loneliness, what was the first thing you said to me? 'This must be a pretty pathetic sword, it doesn't even cut!'"_ she recited with as much wit as she could, losing strength to both tears and the hiccups that came with them. It was a tragic sight, one no one in the vicinity had ever been privy to in the entire history of Soul Society. A zanpakutou, materialized like any other person, breaking down as she watched her partner lose strength. And Kin, who simply couldn't believe her senses, and refused to believe them altogether. She knew; Nejibana wouldn't even let her pass if she tried.

"_I knew it was you, and my heart soared. I had another chance! But…but you didn't recognize me, but you recognized that I was important to you. The happiest days of my life were the ones I spent talking to you, those nights when we shared everything, Past, Present, and Future. You scared me; you possessed the redemption I dreamt of, but at a cost I had never imagined. I wanted to be useful to you again, I wanted to be with you more! To dance together like we used to! But I knew…deep down I knew I couldn't put it off forever, otherwise I'd end up failing you again…"_ she trailed off mournfully. She couldn't stand the thought, but even with this she was only delaying what she had set out to do.

"_I can't fail you anymore, I won't let myself! Time after time my pride has been crushed beneath the finality of defeat, and not even my desperation, my love, or my anger could do anything about it. I wanted to be with you even longer, I wanted to take pride in the life I would help you lead, and yet even when the miracle happened and I was given that chance, the Cinderella story would lose its magic in what seemed far too short._

"_Kaien, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"_

The water mistress was shocked beyond any meaning of the word when she felt arms wet with blood wrap around her small body, and though he was weak, Kaien had still managed to move his head to her shoulder. **"Nejibana…you've never…never failed me. I…should…apologize…instead. I'm sorry…you've always suffered…because of my recklessness. I put you through…so much pain…and still you never…blamed me. I never…deserved you…but if you can…forgive me too…for what it's worth…you're forgiven,"** he croaked out weakly, and she knew that it wasn't his blood speaking, but the lives of her two partners speaking in unison. Her tears fell heavier, and she smiled brightly as the face once wrought with despair glowed in happiness.

She hugged him back, more passionately, more intimately than she had ever embraced anything as she buried her face into his neck, uncaring of the blood marring her flesh. _"I've l-longed to hear those words for s-so long!!"_ she cried happily. Already she could feel the hesitancy dying in her heart. She knew what she had to do, and she would do it happily. She could only hope he could forgive her. _"Of course I forgive you. I love you, Kaien Shiba; I love you, Kaien Kurosaki. I would have been happy to stay your sword for all of eternity, but if this is what I can give…then I give it to you with no regrets. My wish has been granted, I will be able to protect you forever, I understand that now. Goodbye…"_

Kaien could feel something in the darkness he was surrounded by, the place he felt his consciousness forced to whenever his blood took over his body. He could hear; each and every word he heard her speak through heartache and tears as he felt his body weaken. That one word, that one word at the end of her confession was like a blade pierced through his heart. _Don't go!! Don't leave me alone here!!_

And as he felt his body warm…as he felt his body strengthen beyond anything he had ever felt before…he felt these words waft into his prison as light broke through the endless darkness that made up this world. _"I'll never leave you alone. I'll always be with you from now on. I'm what you needed Kaien, you were so unbalanced because you were a zanpakutou spirit with Hollow blood. Your zanpakutou nature couldn't bear it, what you needed was another zanpakutou._

"_You constantly absorbed them for that reason, and your blood didn't allow you to fully heal because it didn't want to lose, because that meant its death. It was never meant to have any pull in your body, but since it did because of the Hougyoku it didn't want to give it up. Like everything in the world, it had a sense of self-preservation. A copy couldn't fill your void, and the second I felt what you had done the moment I cut you I knew that that void was meant to be filled by me. Death frightened me, because I had never truly had a concept of it when it came to my existence, but now I understand, I finally understand._

"_This is my power, Kaien, my life, my gift to you. I will always be with you now, a part of you so intricate I will no longer be able to talk to you like we used to. Don't cry, this is my redemption, this is the chance I've waited for. I'm sorry…I couldn't bring myself to do it sooner. This is my…goodbye. It…may sound strange…but I do love you. Don't…cry…"_

When the voice faded, the world exploded with light. Blue sky stretched as far as the eye could see, and blue rose petals floated without end on the water that licked silently at the sandy shore. The agony of his blood was gone, the darkness he had fought against by himself for his entire life had been vanquished by the one person that had lived closest to his heart for two lifetimes.

She…was gone.

He could feel her presence within him, feel her power, the calming water, the raging rapids, the all-consuming strength of the ocean flow through him. It was his now. She had given up her life so that he could live his.

And he fell to his knees at the shore and cried.

……

The reiatsu that shattered the air was unlike anything ever felt before.

Everyone had watched silently, like what they were witnessing demanded their complete attention. No one spoke, no one blinked, no one dared _breathe_ as the small, powerful, and beautiful body clasping itself to the bloody Hollow faded into the body of the young man in an amazing spectacle of glowing light.

They watched, speechless, as the tears of blood were replaced by real tears as the blood disintegrated from his body. Then…he started screaming. They clasped their hands to their ears as he screamed like his mother had died in front of his eyes and he had been so close to saving her. His anguished wails pierced the air like the damning finality of a body-bag's zipper. They watched, as up from his feet white flowed.

His skin faded from the normal peach associated with humanity to the ashen pallor of an inner Hollow. His bloody red clothing crackled with energy and turned black as the transformation continued, and as it went up his stomach and arms his skin sizzled as the scars once there burned away in small puffs of steam. The black tattoos of his arm to cover those scars now healed turned _silver_ as it continued up until it covered his face and hair, and that wasn't all that had happened.

There were gasps of astonishment when his downturned head had been taken over by the white coating. His hair wasn't completely white. A streak of pale blue had taken over the left side of his bangs, and his hair now seemed to flow backwards in the air like the waves of the ocean. When the screaming stopped and the head turned up to look at the heavens, more breath was lost. Only one of the flame tattoos over his eyes remained, and it was his left eye that had kept it as the yellow eye now back inside looked mournfully towards heaven. His right eye lacked that orange tattoo, in fact it even lacked the black one of old as well as the eye that should have been there. Instead of the yellow of his left eye, his right eye was a crystal blue, just like that of the woman that had vanished in his arms. What was more, was even though he had clearly undergone the White Transformation they had all seen in both his parents and his sister, his eyes didn't have the typical black sclera that came with it.

No one dared move, no one until Kin finally regained motor control.

She stepped forward hesitantly, her Bankai still at the ready in case Kaien had actually lost complete control and this was the final product. "Kaien…?"

He chuckled softly, and she was struck by how his deep, gentle voice had gained an unearthly quality. It sounded just like she could remember Nejibana's, though it was enough that his voice was still easily recognizable and the Hollow's tinge was nowhere to be heard. "In both my lives, she felt like a failure…when the one that had really failed was me…"

His tears started again, and she knew deep in her heart that this was her Kaien, and he was hurting beyond imagination. Her Bankai was disabled silently, and though her clothing was ripped in places and still bloodstained in others, she knew she had to walk forward and hug him. She felt his warmth as he returned her hug gratefully, and her heart wept with him, because it was the only thing that had the slightest inkling to what he had just gone through. She knew, in fact she was probably the only one that had noticed.

His zanpakutou…was gone.

He hugged her closer right before he let go, and as she watched him walk away he took off his jacket and the now black energy of his Cero exploded from his white, completely healed back. The energy of his technique was far stronger than she remembered it, but not only had he eaten most of the Vizard Mod-Souls, but he had just been completed thanks to Nejibana.

He stood, his silent fury burning in his bi-colored eyes as he looked down on the headless corpse of Mayuri Kurotsuchi. His muscles rippled with tension as he fought the emotions inside of him, until with a furious scream he pulled back and punched the dead body lying on the ground, the power of Cerokou behind his action demolishing the ground beneath the body the second the strike was set. It may be called disrespecting the dead, but had he not met him Kaien was sure…sure he would have had more time with her. His screams escalated with each punch he laid until he had created a large crater and the body had been disintegrated in the heat of the black Cero energies.

"DAMN YOU!!!!!!!! DAMN YOU!!!! _GOD_ _DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!!_"

Once again, all he could do was fall to his knees and cry.

He was complete, but Nejibana was no more.

From the core of his soul, he felt this melody rise, like the hymn on an angel's lips.

.

_I just need to get away from me_

_I just need to find some peace of mind_

_Caught in this game of unmet expectations_

_I want to leave it all behind_

.

_I want to be small_

_I want to be just like a child_

_I want to be quiet in your arms_

_I want to be small_

_I want to be just like a child_

_I want to be quiet in your arms_

.

_So in that moment when I lose myself_

_Let the world fade away from me_

_Give me a moment just to seek the silence_

_I just want to be set free_

.

_I want to be small_

_I want to be just like a child_

_I want to be quiet in your arms_

_I want to be small_

_I want to be just like a child_

_I want to be…quiet in your arms_

.

He smiled through the tears and clutched his chest. "You had no regrets, just like you said. Thank you…thank you…and goodbye."

He stood shakily. It was his life, and now he could live it fully.

……

**Author's Notes:** This was the most heart-wrenching chapter I ever wrote, and I won't deny when I was writing it, and even now, I still felt like I was going to cry. I know this story still isn't getting very much attention, but I'm happy with what it's been getting since it was already posted somewhere else. Thank you to those that continue to read this, and I hope you continue to enjoy it. The song at the end was by Amanda Falk, called 'Small', and is also another thing I don't own. Look it up if you have the time, it's a beautiful song. I'm sorry to those who don't like character death, but it happened this way.

As always, reviews are always appreciated. Thank you, and that's it for me for today.


	22. Runaways, Relationships, and Reunions

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**Runaways, Relationships, and Reunions**

**..**

_He smiled through the tears and clutched his chest. "You had no regrets, just like you said. Thank you…thank you…and goodbye."_

_He stood shakily. It was his life, and now he could live it fully._

……

How simple it would be if that was merely the case.

For the first thirteen years of his life he had thought he was normal, that he was just like everyone else. He had been; there hadn't been any voices in his head other than his own, there hadn't been anyone, lest any_thing_ other than himself inside his body. Within the span of a few short hours everything he had ever known was thrown upside-down, and the hardest revelation of them all was that most people like him had swords that granted power, guidance, that granted another entity altogether into their psyche.

But for him it was different. He didn't have that one sword, the guiding spirit to help his wayward soul. He had _all_ of them. He could talk to them all, hear their stories, their cries, the loneliness that most felt. They were tools after all. Shinigami were taught that they were tools, and only some truly tried to grasp their worth as something else. It was those that always attainted Bankai.

They were restricted to one world, one solitary world where emotions dictated weather, where the only thing they could do was hope and pray that they were trusted, that they could lend their power to the one who held them justly. Even as he stood in the crater of his own making, Nejibana's words kept stabbing him again and again. She had been so envious of him, she and every other zanpakutou that came into contact with him. He had the one ability none of them could ever have. He had the ability to form relationships with more than one person. He could interact with the world around him, and wasn't constrained to the lonely existence inside the inner world of the Soul Reaper wielding their sword form.

But that hadn't been her problem. The only thing she had wished for…was a second chance. She had wanted to be with him again, to have the opportunity to show that she wasn't about to fail him again. She would be stronger for him; she had willingly handed over Bankai for that reason. She hadn't wanted to lose him; she had wanted to spend more time with him. The only thing she wanted, the only thing that occupied her mind…was him. Her chance at redemption.

Now her wish had finally been granted, in the most unlikely form.

He could practically feel the happy waves within him, the surges of liquid power that coursed through his body as a result of her sacrifice. She was gone, but somehow, someway, in some impossible, indescribable, unknowable circumstance…she had willingly surrendered her life…with a smile on her face.

He couldn't understand it. He couldn't…he just couldn't!!

He still had his control, his newfound power hadn't taken that away, and so within the span of a second he had squelched everything back into himself, locked up that power back into his body so he didn't have to feel the remnants of her in his reiatsu. Even then it offered no relief, he felt it still. It was his, there was no escaping it. His hands were trembling, his knees were shaking, he felt so…_angry._

The others could feel it too. It wasn't that they felt the air vibrate because of intense spiritual pressure, the remaining pieces of which still hung in the air; no, they merely felt the intense _cold_ that the anger put in the air, the blurring _hate_ that made the reiatsu seem mild in comparison.

Kin knew it just as well as the others, and as she watched she saw him raise his foot and stomp it onto the ground, kicking up a giant flare of dust in its impact. He had hidden his presence again, and one by one they came to see that nothing was there when the smoke cleared.

Her heart clenched as she saw the empty space where her fiancé had once stood.

She knew. To him, this was exactly like what happened five years ago. Another failure.

The only thing she could offer was her tears.

……

He ran.

He didn't know how far he ran, he just couldn't stop running. Seireitei passed him by in a blink, and the endless landscape of Rukongai spread before him, only to be passed just the same. From well-built houses to shacks and boxes, right down until puddles of blood were a common sight, he kept running. The mountains of the Eightieth district loomed, but still he ran.

The shrieks caught his attention first. Then the woman running with a child on her arm—a miracle for this district; that the child would even be cared for in the first place—being chased by a _Hollow_. Soul Society wasn't exempt from Hollows, in fact the Eleventh Division was well known for their Hollow hunting parties that went out to train in the high number districts. He stopped for a second, like his brain couldn't process what was happening in front of him, and then another frightened cry snapped him to awareness.

This was what he needed. He stretched out his hand and without any prompting, water starting gathering without any of it around until when it was done the crystalline trident fell into his hand. He knew. He still had one zanpakutou that he could use without repercussions: the power that had been granted to him. It was merely a shell in his hands, he was its spirit. That didn't stop him from tearing into the Hollow like the Devil himself.

Body parts flew everywhere before evaporating like the Hollow parts they were, until when it was done only a small pond and Kaien were left. He was panting, not because of exertion, but because of his anger. _He _had failed. Not her, never her, it had been him.

He choked back his tears as he turned to look at the bloodied body of the woman that had been running away, still clutching the small bundle close to her chest as the crying continued. He stepped towards her and saw her flinch away. His heart constricted painfully, but he continued on. "It's alright, you're safe now." They were the words he had longed to tell Kin five years ago, the words he would give anything to say to Nejibana, and yet they were the only thing he could offer to the woman in front of him.

"A-Are you a Shinigami?" she asked tearfully. "I've only heard stories…I hoped and prayed…I…I…"

Kaien crouched down and put his hands on her bare, bloody feet wordlessly. She could only gasp as she felt her skin mesh back together seamlessly, until when he was done the only reason there was blood on her was because her clothing had been stained in it. He knew someone of her kindness and intelligence in the bestial Eightieth area meant she was still either very new, or very adept at hiding. "May I?" he asked softly, motioning to the child in her arms.

Her eyes widened in awe when she heard his voice, and that was probably the only thing that allowed her to hand the fragile existence over, even if it was with jerky, uneasy arms. Kaien removed the tattered rags the baby was wrapped in before removing his newly black jacket devoid of blood and wrapping it around the sniffling child. Unexpectedly, he hadn't made a peep since he had been put in his arms. Now in the snug wrapping of his jacket, Kaien handed him back to what may or may not be his mother. Whatever the situation, he could only be glad the child had someone willing to take care of him.

Her eyes were drawn instantly to the ashen skin of his bare chest, and he knew the flush on her cheeks wasn't because of a fever. It was his obligation to help her; he couldn't leave someone so wrongly placed in an area like this, not when she wasn't like her surroundings. Kaien Shiba's memories told him that much. She screamed when he picked her up without warning, cradling her against his chest like she was her child, but he quickly calmed her down. "I'm getting you out of this place."

He almost fainted when her wide eyes started watering with happy tears. He didn't deserve them. He would spend his entire life atoning if he had to. He had failed two of the most important women in his life over and over again, he didn't deserve the praise of the few he was able to save.

The next thing the woman knew she had looked up and before her were the limits of Seireitei. She was in the first district of West Rukon. The man carrying her placed her down before a shop and smiled at her sadly, his heterochromatic eyes glistening with hurt. "There's someone here who will help you," he said to her, before like a dream he had vanished, the only proof she had of his existence the ground beneath her feet and the black jacket wrapped around her child. She fell to the ground and wept happily, and the door opened to reveal an aged man with kind eyes, the elder who had helped Ichigo and the others at their arrival in Soul Society…and known by the Shiba family.

She had been saved by a guardian angel disguised in Shinigami apparel, that was the only thing she could think of. For once, she dared to dream that her life was turning for the better. Death wasn't so bad after all.

…….

Kaien didn't know why he hurt so much.

Fate was a strange thing. If his life had gone any differently at any point in time none of this would have happened, and yet that also meant he wouldn't have run away, and he wouldn't have met that woman, and wouldn't have saved her and her child from that Hollow. In the future, who knew what those two might do, and it was all because he had run away that he had saved them. Would he rather spare his life some misery, or would he allow it to run its course should he ever be given the choice to go back? He had just saved lives, lives that wouldn't have been saved otherwise.

Sometimes, God could be so cruel.

He ran back to those mountains, the ones where the traces of Hollow were as real as the angry killers that resided there. He needed to train, he needed to fight. One by one, hour after hour he fought, using his newly acquired white tendrils to the best of his ability. It was hard, it was like he had grown a million extra limbs and he needed to know how to control each one without complication. He had to. This was the power Nejibana had given her life for him to attain; this was the form that physically represented her life.

Finally, after days of doing nothing but fighting, he fell to his knees.

He had wanted to deplete his energy, to fight until he couldn't stand. Yet even after all of it, his skin remained the same. He had thought after the initial influx of energy he would return to normal, but his skin was still as white as it had been days ago. That had been a secondary motive however, and the primary reason couldn't let itself go unheard anymore.

"WHY!??!?!!?" he screamed at the top of his lungs, frightening any creature that may have been around the landscape. He wasn't even asking anyone in particular; like every person has ever done sometime in their lives, he was simply screaming out his troubles to the air, hoping, praying, that someone heard him. "Why did you have to do it!? I didn't deserve it! I've never deserved it!!! I didn't deserve to get Kin back! I didn't deserve to see you again! I didn't deserve any of it!!" He punched the ground as his angry tears fell without end. "Dammit, tell me why!!!!! I've failed everyone close to me!! I couldn't protect Kin when we met that Hollow, I couldn't protect you when you needed me most!! I couldn't avenge Miyako and I couldn't even die properly!! I had to let Rukia live with the regret of killing me for _years!!_ So then WHY!? Why does everyone keep sacrificing themselves for me!!?!?!?

"Mom and Dad sacrificed their time, Asuka sacrificed her feelings, Kin's saved me more times than I've ever saved her and you gave up your _life!!!_ Why do people keep doing this when I'm the last person that deserves it!!?!?!?"

He had failed so many times, more than Nejibana had ever believed. Why did she think herself a failure when it had been his fault all along?? He could have been a better partner, a better son, a better husband, a better friend, but he had failed more times than he had succeeded! Why was everyone always helping him!?

The answer came to him unexpectedly; in fact he couldn't even hear it. It was the water within him, the intense power that had been bestowed upon him that answered without even being audible. It could be _felt_.

"_Because…we love you."_

It was the shortest answer to so many questions at the same time. It was the perfect answer, the one that didn't need reasons or anything else to explain it. It was the thing that he hadn't been willing to accept when he realized that once again he was like everyone blissfully living in ignorance in the Living World. He was by himself in his body, when for those few short days she had been back with him he had felt…whole. He remembered everything from his past life, and losing her in this one was like both lifetimes of experience together shattered in an instant, even though she was still with him, just like she had said.

He laughed bitterly as he fell to his hands and knees. Such a simple answer, one time and time again he had been reminded of. Kin had always known, he knew that. He had run away on a pity-party of anger and betrayal, and at the end of it all he had come to the answer she had known all along. He stood shakily and started walking back, fighting off his exhaustion.

He had been an idiot, but…an idiot that had finally come to the answer that he had been so desperately looking for. The irony was it had been in front of him all along. He was so tired, and hungry, now that he thought about it. It didn't matter, he needed to get out of this district. Nothing good would come of falling unconscious in these parts.

Regardless, he limped forward steadily, meeting no interruptions along the way. If there were people there, they knew enough just from his appearance to stay away if they wanted to live. It was one advantage of looking like he did he supposed.

Finally, the ground became soiled with blood less and less and it was like the atmosphere itself was friendlier. He was sure he was still in a higher number district, but he couldn't remember how long he had walked anymore and he had absolutely no energy reserves left to call on.

His blurring vision saw a group of punks walking towards him, and though their appearance was odd, their gestures towards him told him they didn't mean any harm. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but from the concern on their faces it seemed like they were aware of his state. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he was messed up right then.

After too long, he fell down face first, unconscious.

The group of four looked down on the unconscious man in total panic.

"What're we gonna do!?" the weird one with sunglasses wailed. "He just fell over right in front of us!?"

One of the smarter ones, who wore a clock on his back, wasn't so quick to follow his friend's stupidity. "Get a grip! Can't you see he just fainted!? The way the boss' been since dandelion- head showed up he'd kill us if we left a Shinigami to die! Let's hurry up and get him to the house!"

Another, this one with a giant afro and an almost perpetual look of confusion on his face, let in his two cents. "But he doesn't have a zanpakutou or anything…look at him, his hair's all shiny even…"

The kindest of them all, and ironically also the one who looked the fiercest, crouched down and picked up the limp body, grunting at the unexpected weight. "It doesn't matter if he's a Shinigami or not. Boss took care of us, so we should take care of anyone else who needs it." With that, he slung the body over the back of his _boar_.

Sanji, Taichi, and Nehero all sighed at Adatomo's very realistic explanation.

"Fine fine, let's just get him there already. He doesn't look too good."

Then they too mounted their boars and took off.

……

_Three days earlier…_

.

It wasn't utter madness, but it was something close.

The amount of blood, bodies, and damage to the landscape had clean-up crews in a frenzy. Not only that, but the death of a captain was now well known, and spreading like wildfire through the ranks even as those involved stood in the aftermath. It was close to chaos, so naturally, they had quickly vacated the scene, though they knew it was probably common knowledge by now. The fact that two captains had been dispatched already said of how much the rest of the Society knew, and that Renji happened to bring Hanatarou along only drove that home further. Had it been anyone else, there would have been one other fatality too, not to mention Nemu's fragile state.

Now they all sat in one of the conference rooms of the Thirteenth Division clad in fresh uniforms, and bandages, to those that that applied to. Tatsuki was sitting on Ichigo's lap with his arms wrapped possessively around her, and the worry was clear on the two parents' faces. Kaien had simply disappeared, and he was out of Tatsuki's range to detect. Oddly, Tsuki was sitting rather close to Sora, and Ikki had since retreated back to her sister's body, who now sat beside Kin on the opposite side of the table between them. Hanatarou and Nemu were there too, Nemu for obvious reasons, and Hanatarou for moral support.

"That was…interesting," Sora said at last, and to everyone's surprise the first and only one to chuckle was _Tsukiyomi_.

"_**What?"**_ she asked curiously, her usually hard face for once soft and gentle. She really did look the part of the royal she was, even with her soft expression.

"Nothing," Ichigo said whimsically. "I just haven't heard you laugh like that since you were a baby." Tsukiyomi turned a dark shade of indignant red as she sputtered for a quick comeback.

"Not gonna happen Tsuki, this time you've been busted," her sister pointed out with a grin. Finally, Tsukiyomi merely turned up her nose snottily and readjusted her seating with a _humph._

Even though the door was opened softly, the sound still rang out like a judge's gavel in the minds of those present. Genryuusai Yamamoto stepped in first, and after him Soi-Fong, Jyushiro Ukitake, Renji Abarai, and likely for an unbiased point-of-view, Byakuya Kuchiki. Masaki had gone a wonderful shade of red upon witnessing the last of the arrivals, but that was dulled greatly by the reason all these captains had come before them.

"Captain Ichigo Kurosaki!" the old man boomed, and shook everyone at the table except for the person it was directed to. He cleared his throat and opened an eye to see more clearly as his demeanor noticeably changed. "Center Forty-Six is livid right now," he explained calmly, a complete one-eighty from his initial greeting. It was more like he was a frustrated mentor than an angry commanding officer.

"Hey, I told ya I was gonna beat some sense into him! He was the one that made it into a small war!" Ichigo retorted instantly.

The aged commander sighed. "I am well aware of this, Captain. Until the revelation of Lieutenant Kurotsuchi's pregnancy we had not seen her captain for quite some time, and his documents and lab are being seized as we speak." He sat down in the chair at the head of the table heavily, and for once it looked like the Captain Commander was showing his age. He seemed visibly weary. "Honestly, you youngsters." He sighed again. "Center Forty-Six hasn't given a definitive response when I inquired about a revival of Operation Spearhead, but one can only assume they had a hand in the creation of those Hollowized Mod-Souls, if not only for the authorization. Captain Kurotsuchi was a good deal of things, I will admit that, but a traitor was not one of them."

Soi-Fong stepped forward at that, rather angrily even. "Traitor!? If I hadn't been there Ich—" she caught herself, "Captain Kurosaki would have been dead, as well as three of his seated officers and need I remind you, the Shihouin heir to the Second Division!!" Color flooded Kin's cheeks. Being called a princess took some getting used to, even if Soi-Fong refused to address her as anything else. The commander's open eye turned to regard her and she swallowed nervously. "Forgive my outburst!"

Renji stepped forward respectfully, and wordlessly the elder had nodded his approval. "Listen, I was right there too, and believe me those things weren't tryin' to do anything but kill! The little missy over there can testify to that!" Soi-Fong gave him a glare for talking about Kin like that, but he shrugged it off.

Yamamoto shut his eye and yet again, sighed. "Duly noted, Captain. And Soi-Fong, however unauthorized, your words do have a great deal of evidence against the late Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Yet the fact remains that none of those that fall under the blanket of justifiable self-defense were in fact, the one to end his life. Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, you are immune to the effects of the Bankai in question, how do you explain your actions?"

Nemu's normally calm and slim eyes were openly frightened, and though she tried, no words were coming from her mouth.

"As of eleven fifty-three this morning Nemu was a fully-fledged member of my division," Ichigo broke in calmly, but with a smug tinge to his voice that couldn't go unnoticed. "As her captain, the responsibility of what she does falls on me, ain't that right?"

A rackety chuckle escaped the old man. "Impressive deduction, though the death of a captain is no small matter. Under normal circumstances, banishment or even execution would be within reasonable consequence."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed fiercely. "Just try to seal me up, I dare you! Byakuya already tried to _cut_ my power outta me and I came back stronger than before! Try to kill me and I swear…" Not only was he a father, with a family he wouldn't leave for anything, but he was also one of the few threads keeping the many—_many_—Vastro-Lorde peaceful in Heuco Mundo. Most of the captains present knew this.

"As I said, under _normal_ circumstances. Center Forty-Six is overstepping their bounds in this case. Acting under the pretense that her captain was in peril, Nemu Kurotsuchi acted swiftly to protect the life of her commanding officer, and I see no reason to punish anyone involved. Since even I was kept in the dark about the possibility of Operation Spearhead being reopened, the disposal of the Hollow Mod-Souls is well within your bounds. Such a thing should have never been created, and since at the time I had not been informed of any such thing being authorized, the late Mayuri Kurotsuchi is the one who would be in danger of punishment. Omission of truth or not, that truth does not apply when under any other circumstance things like those would have been destroyed immediately."

Ichigo sighed in relief. "So basically we're off the hook, right?"

The Captain Commander gave a slight nod. "In layman's terms, that's correct. You are free to go."

Tatsuki laughed happily. "You know you really had us worried there for a sec! You coming in with all these captains was really unsettling!"

"As it should," Byakuya spoke up pointedly. "Under normal circumstances harsher punishment _would_ have been dealt. You have an amazing propensity for luck, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Aforementioned man smiled widely. "Nah, I've just got a pro…prop…I've got a knack for being in the right!!" The small traces of a grin were seen on the other captain's face.

"That may be so."

The others had already heard enough, and Renji had to get back to Rukia before she killed him for taking off without her. He knew he was bound to get hit, but if he stayed any longer she may impose far more threatening consequences on him and he didn't want to get those any time soon. Even the Captain Commander himself had walked to the door after saying his goodbyes, but Byakuya had lingered behind.

Even the noble had to go however, but as he turned to leave, he looked down at Masaki, who had been sitting right in front of him the entire time, practically shaking. "Are you unhurt?" He was their sensei after all, but surprisingly there was an almost noticeable amount of concern in his voice.

Masaki's mouth went dry. "Y-Yes Sensei!" she sputtered out quickly. His eyes narrowed in on her heavily bandaged arm and she quickly covered it from his sight. "I-I guess we still need more training…" She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. She hadn't noticed the wound at the time, but she had been running off pure adrenaline for the majority of the battle.

Byakuya didn't seem to find her assessment very amusing. "When you've healed, report to the Sixth Division. Cleary I have not taught you well enough if you have to lower yourself to one arm for the likes of mindless dolls." Masaki's skin burned under his intense gaze and she nodded submissively like the student she was. The Kuchiki head turned briskly and walked out the door.

Sora scoffed when the captain was out of sight. "Sheesh, what crawled up his butt?"

While most of the people there laughed, even if they didn't mean to, Tsukiyomi eyed her sister with a devilish smirk. _**"In other words: I can't believe you got hurt! I'm going to make sure that never happens again!"**_

Masaki went brighter than a Christmas tree.

Ichigo laughed and turned to the only two unrelated or not-yet-related yet to leave. "Well Hanatarou, Nemu, you're free to go. Go get some rest, I know what happened today wasn't easy on you. Take a few days off, it's completely normal." Nemu nodded wordlessly and with her clasped to her lover's arm, they walked out the door. "Well Tats, should we head out too?" His wife seemed more subdued than normal, but she strained a smile and nodded, likely thinking about the same thing Kin was, even if she knew better.

"What about Kaien!? We've got no idea where he is and he could be anywhere! We've got no way to find him!!" Kin yelled frantically. She seemed to be the only one here worried about their missing member!

Tatsuki grimaced as she stood, and not because she was in any physical pain either. "He'll come back on his own. He's done something like this before; he just needs a few days to vent. He got more than just his looks from his father."

Ichigo seemed offended. "Hey!"

"Oh you and I both know it, don't try acting hurt!" she jibed, and he harrumphed childishly.

"Alright, alright, let's just go. I'm wasted; right now all I want is a cold drink and a warm bed!"

It was only late afternoon, but the battle had been enough to wear everyone out enough for the entire day.

Tatsuki smirked seductively up at him as she wrapped her arms around his waist and meshed herself to his strong frame. "The second part's easy enough…"

Both Masaki and Tsukiyomi blanched in horror. "Geez people! We're right here!" Masaki cried out like any mortified child. Her mother merely turned to look at her and her smile told all too well what she was thinking, and it involved a certain scarf-wearing noble. The orange-haired teen promptly blushed and shut her mouth.

The victorious Tatsuki smiled widely before sticking out her tongue childishly. Certain things hadn't changed even after all this time, and one of those was Tatsuki's inherent hatred of losing, arguments or otherwise. There was only one person she allowed to have the smallest amount of superiority over her, and even then she quickly took back control whenever his guard was down. It simply made their relationship what it was, even if her turns in control were getting fewer and farther between. It _was_ one of the few reasons she didn't like being pregnant, but the pros far outweighed the cons.

"Shall we get going then?" Ichigo asked, with that devilish grin of his youth gracing his face. Suddenly Kin knew where Tsukiyomi got it from.

The two simply left the rest of the group there without any cares. As they were walking away from the door, Ichigo turned his head to look over at his wife. "Tsuki seems to be adapting really well. It's great to hear her laugh again, but really it wasn't that funny…"

Tatsuki smiled and shook her head in disbelief. He may be adding more years to his life, but his past naivety did show itself every now and then. "Who knows? Maybe she just wanted to make Sora feel better," she said lackadaisically, just waiting for the gears to start turning behind Ichigo's eyes.

"Yeah, she was sitting pretty close to him wasn't she?" he replied with his usual innocent grin. Tatsuki couldn't help but smile back. Even after all their time together, he was still her Ichigo. Naïve and dense, true, but also everything she could have ever asked for.

She counted down the seconds in her head. _Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…. _She felt his body stiffen momentarily beside her, and fought off the overwhelming urge to laugh. The gears had started moving alright. _Five, four, three, two…_

She couldn't resist. "I wonder what that'll turn into in a few years?"

She had to give her daughter some credit, she hadn't seen her husband's eyes _that_ wide in a long time.

_One._

"WHAT!?!"

Back in the room, four people could hear uncontrollable laughter.

……

As much as she hated to admit it, Kaien had done the same thing she would have in that situation. She was right there the entire time, and yet even then he had chosen to run away. She could practically feel his pain, even now, and her intuition told her he wasn't going to be satisfied just running either.

What had happened was the equivalent of watching a piece of yourself die. Because of her sacrifice they now had a life to live out together, but hers was compromised in the process. A zanpakutou was the spiritual representation of the wielder's resolve, their innermost feelings given form. Deep down, no matter how much they may seem to be different from their partners outwardly, they were exactly alike. That was why those with zanpakutous of opposite gender were so rare, _and_ so powerful. It took a certain degree of trust to gain the power of the spirit as it was, but those of the opposite gender took more in most cases, but as a result they usually brandished twice as much power.

Also, it simply wasn't possible for love not to develop between the two.

Naturally it couldn't be considered something akin to spousal love, but rather the deep-seated _longing_, the barest love that every person desired to have: that of someone that completely and utterly understood them. It was that love that bound their spirits together more fiercely than any other partnership, and Kin knew this. Having someone like that die, give their life up right in front of their partner…she couldn't even fathom what it would feel like. The closest thing she could guess would be if Kaien had died in front of her.

He had gained his past memories back, she knew that too, and if that was the case then every part of him would feel not just what he himself felt of her dying, but also the experiences of a life already passed along with them. It hurt her heart just to think about it. Still, she couldn't help but hope he came back to her soon.

As much as her heart hurt for him, it was also getting angry, furious that he hadn't stayed and let them work through it together. They were going to bind their lives together forever, why hadn't he found it fit to include her when he obviously needed it the most?

She fingered the scarf that she hadn't been able to remove from her neck, even knowing it had come to life once already. It still smelled like him, and its presence was comforting when she had no way of finding its original owner.

Now she sat, dejected and depressed, looking over Seireitei from the top of one of the Soukyoku's broken sides. The evening was beautiful, even after all the carnage that had happened below. It was as if nature itself was saying that even though much had been gained and much had been lost, another day always came. That day brought with it more choices, more chances, and even more time to heal. Hopefully, time to heal together.

She sighed as she swept some of her hair blowing in the breeze back behind her ear. "I'll wait for you, Kaien. I may just hit you when you get back, but I'll always wait for you if that's the only thing I can do."

For some reason, the words granted her solace, even though no one was there to hear them.

……

Whatever it was he had done in a past life that gave him the opportunity to do this he had no idea, but whatever it was he only hoped he did it again. Tsukiyomi had always been civil with him, kind even, but she had never really caught on to any of his advances before, even though he had fallen for her so long ago he couldn't remember. Now she seemed so much more…human, if that was the right word.

She was clearly worried about her brother, he could tell that much just from her demeanor, but her face barely betrayed any of what she was feeling, even though she could express herself more emotionally now. It was only thanks to his extended time around her that he was even able to know that much. _She really is beautiful…_ he thought offhandedly, and when her warm yellow eyes turned to look at him he knew he had just been caught staring. Those eyes should have unsettled him, should have imbued fear, but he knew them so inherently after being around her so long that the only thing they did was send his testosterone levels through the roof. He had never seen them as warm as they were, and even the black sclera surrounding them only added to the quality, instead of the opposite as should have been the case.

To his surprise, her eyes quickly turned away almost guiltily. _**"I'm…sorry…I-I mean about before. I could have killed you…"**_ To his even greater surprise, it seemed like her eyes were filling with tears just at the mention of it.

"Tsukiyomi…" He watched as a pale shade of red appeared on her cheeks at her name, something he had never thought looked more endearing on any other human being.

"_**T-Tsuki's…fine. M-Most people call me it anyways."**_

He knew it was a lie, but he still couldn't help but feel privileged. "C-Can I hold your hand?" He knew from experience what happened to anyone but her family that touched her without permission, and had she not completed herself—from what he could gather from her prior explanation—she probably would have snapped again had he done so. The blush was more pronounced this time, and he found it incredibly cute on her slim and finessed features. His heart soared when she nodded gently, and he reached out to take one of her hands in his two, bringing the blush to an entirely new level, both on her _and_ him.

"Tsukiyomi…Tsuki…the only thing that mattered to me was that you were okay. Sure, I wasn't expecting to be punched into a wall, but worse things have happened to guys who touched you before! I consider myself lucky!"

Even though her eyes were brimming with unshed tears, they still looked stunned before she reluctantly chuckled hoarsely. _**"You know…I actually thought you were going to say something serious for once!"**_ she said as she wiped her eyes and laughed again. Her breath caught in her throat when she looked back at his face and saw that he had removed his glasses, allowing her to look right into his midnight-blue eyes without any barrier between them. He was so close, just inches away from her face; so close she could feel his breath on her skin, and it sent tingles through her.

"I'm very serious," he whispered gently as he moved closer. She could feel her heartbeat accelerate, and against her will her eyelids started fluttering like an enamored schoolgirl. "If I said I liked you…would you let me kiss you?"

Her breathing turned ragged. God, he was doing something to her insides that she wasn't entirely sure she liked. _**What on earth is happening to me!?**_

"If I said I wanted to be with you…would you let me?"

This certainly wasn't moving at her pace, and that scared her. More than that though, she found she didn't really mind losing that control, abandoning herself to her emotions. She _wanted_ to be with him, but right then though, she wanted to _kiss_ him. She arched her head to the side as she moved to meet him. _**"If I asked you to be mine…would you?"**_ she whispered uncertainly.

A grin formed on his handsome face as he reached up to touch her cheek. "How about we start here and take it from there?"

Screw it, she knew she was done for. Her eyes closed completely just as his did the same and the motion was completed. _**"Sounds good…"**_

She had never imagined a male's lips could be so soft. It was crude to be sure, and definitely lacking in experience, but she took pride in the fact that that was only because it was their first. Her first, his first. She had always wondered why her parents enjoyed it so much, and then Masaki and Ikki and Kin and Kaien, but now she knew. Her insides were reeling for reasons she could never explain and her entire body felt flushed in a wonderful, pleasurable heat that she had never experienced even after all her self-experimentation.

It was soft, unsure, full of trust and even more untold emotion. He was kissing her like she was the only woman in existence and his heart could only belong to her. It was too much for her, she was overwhelmed by the emotions he was stirring inside of her and yet she wanted _more_. She didn't care if she was getting lightheaded, she increased her force and to her absolute delight so did he. It was passionate, uninhibited, God it was everything she had wanted it to be.

Finally the need for air overrode her desire to continue, and they pulled away from each other with mutual gasps. As they sat there panting, staring at each other with flushed faces, Tsukiyomi had never believed what she was feeling could be anything other than love. She didn't like him, she was sure that she was growing to _love_ him. She watched as he placed his glasses back on his face and smiled warmly at her.

"D-Does this mean you'll go out with me?"

She smiled at his sudden shyness. He and his brother were more alike than he would ever admit, but she knew it. _**"Yeah, I think I'd like that."**_

He smiled just as goofily as his mother was famous for.

She couldn't wait to see what the future held.

……

Kaien's eyes opened groggily to see an unfamiliar ceiling of an unfamiliar setting. His vision was still unfocused, and when he looked over he saw a woman with a white cloth wrapped around her hair wringing a rag out with her one hand before turning back to him and stopping short upon seeing his eyes open.

"So you're finally awake eh? Took you long enough." She said as she dabbed the cold cloth on his forehead to wipe away the sweat. It was the sight of one very blurry—to him that is—very _pregnant,_ Kuukaku Shiba.

His throat was parched, but the words escaped him before he knew what he was saying. "Kuu…chan…?"

Her hand froze in place and her skin lost all of its color as her now wide eyes stared at him in confusion. There had only been one person in her entire life that had ever called her that, correction: one person in her entire life that had ever DARED call her that...but he had left the world of the living a long time ago.

Darkness consumed Kaien's world again and his head lulled to the side, once more unconscious.

Kuukaku slumped into a cushion heavily as she continued to stare at the now unconscious man.

"What the hell…?"

She was going to have to give Seireitei a call. Why hadn't she noticed the resemblance sooner?

This…was going to be interesting.

……

**Author's Notes:** Another one bites the dust! I had someone wonder if the previous chapter was the last one, but just to tell you all, no it was not. Still got plenty left, and all I need to do is remember to upload them. I have some editing I need to do yet, which is rather hard when I'm working on two stories as it is already. Yikes. Whatever, I'll get it done. Thank you for the reviews, you have no idea how much I appreciate them!!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	23. Ghost Of The Past

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**..**

**Ghost Of The Past**

..

_Kaien's eyes opened groggily to see an unfamiliar ceiling of an unfamiliar setting. His vision was still unfocused, and when he looked over he saw a woman with a white cloth wrapped around her hair wringing a rag out with her one hand, before turning back to him and stopping short upon seeing his eyes open._

"_So you're finally awake eh? Took you long enough." She said as she dabbed the cold cloth on his forehead to wipe away the sweat. It was the sight of one very blurry—to him that is—very _pregnant_, Kuukaku Shiba._

_His throat was parched, but the words escaped him before he knew what he was saying. "Kuu…chan…?"_

_Her hand froze in place and her skin lost all of its color as her now wide eyes stared at him in confusion. There had only been one person in her entire life that had ever called her that, correction: there had only been one person in her entire life that had ever DARED call her that…and he had left the world of the living long ago._

_Darkness consumed Kaien's world again and his head lulled to the side, once more unconscious._

_Kuukaku slumped into a cushion heavily as she continued to stare at the now unconscious man._

"_What the hell…?"_

_She was going to have to give Seireitei a call. Why hadn't she noticed the resemblance sooner?_

_This…was going to be interesting._

……

The more she looked, the more she was disturbed.

Everything about him was different. He didn't have regular skin; he had skin whiter than snow, and hair just as pallid. The white strands lay limply around his head in his sweat, but the singular bang of iridescent blue gave it the illusion that it was constantly flowing, even though both he and it remained motionless. As she watched, the blue flowed outwards like a wave, in perfect clockwork to the one just completed, just like the ripple of a pond. She had been too unnerved at the time to remember his eyes, but she was still cognitive enough to remember they weren't black.

He was nothing like him…yet everything else….

The structure of his face, the messy hair, the size of his body…the more she looked the more she saw her deceased brother, and frankly it frightened her. She had been shaken enough when she had first seen Ichigo with her old friend all those years ago, but this man, this person lying prone on one of her extra futons, had called her a name that had stayed a strict secret even within the Shiba house. There was no-one that knew that name, not even the pink-haired little ball of energy had chosen that particular descriptive for her pet-name. She had never seen him before in her life, she was sure she would recognize someone with such a unique appearance, and yet the first time he laid eyes on her he had breathed a name past his lips that hadn't graced the atmosphere in close to a century.

A jolt from her belly brought her back to her senses, and she smiled warmly as she put her only hand on the large ball her stomach had become, something she only did when she was sure she was alone with her unborn child. Surprisingly, she wasn't as scared of motherhood as she had thought she would be, and the cravings kept her life interesting that was for sure. Thinking back, she was constantly amused at the sight of Ganju's face when she listed off her craving of the day. At the time she had simply wanted her food, and no matter what it was, her little brother was _going_ to go get it.

Never piss off a hormonal woman, especially when their tempers are scary enough to begin with.

"You better get outta there soon brat, Mommy's really missing her booze because of you!" It was said with her usual spunk, but she found she couldn't add any kind of condemning edge to it. Sarcasm didn't suit her after all. She had decided that if she was going to bring a child into the world she certainly wasn't going to screw it up. Giving up her smokes and Sake for a whole nine months was killing her, and consequently her cravings hadn't been the most…_normal_, even for regular pregnancy. Thankfully, there should only be a couple of weeks left.

"Any longer than that and you're gettin' it, ya hear me?"

"Boomy-chan!!!!"

And she was promptly knocked to the floor from her cushions by a blur of pink. She groaned even though the blow had done nothing to her, in fact she had become quite adept at making sure her body felt no force was she to ever trip up. This time was no different. She knew the voice, as well as the name. She sighed in mock frustration as she reached down to pat the girl's head. Honestly, she didn't mind her nickname; it was true things always went _boom_ around her anyways. She was only thankful the pint-sized Lieutenant hadn't met her before Orihime, because God only knew there was just as much reason for that 'm' to be a 'b' in her nickname as it was on the klutzy fairy wielder.

She tried to hide her anticipation, because she knew where this little person went, one other was always close behind. It also saved her from the problem of informing Seireitei about her newest arrival. She never had liked the communication Kidou.

"We were looking for someone and we got lost!" Yachiru announced proudly with her usual grin. "Luckily I remembered how to get here!!"

"Tch!" a gruff male voice voiced irately as the door opened once again. "Like hell! It took us twice as long to get here as it did to get lost in the first place!" The one uncovered grey eye met her green ones and he smiled wickedly at her, something she did right back. "Hey babe, how you holdin' up?"

The wicked grin turned gentle even though she didn't want it to. "You were just here at Christmas. Think something terrible s'gonna happen in a week?"

He snorted and cocked his head higher, but she knew people like Kenpachi Zaraki weren't prone to showing embarrassment in any conventional way. He was surprisingly shy, almost laughably so when it came to open displays of affection. Battle was his one true love, and he wasn't used to having that high spot of favor fought over.

It didn't help that the woman could give as good as she got any day of the week. He didn't care about gender, strength was strength, but he was put in an odd position as of late, because he had never dealt with a _pregnant_ woman before, especially one of his own making. She was so fun to provoke in this state though, and he could put up with any pain she dealt him just to see her comical expressions, ranging from red outrage to even redder embarrassment. Nonetheless, it was still a learning experience, one about to get a whole lot harder when the baby was born.

Kenpachi Zaraki…a father. What had the worlds done to deserve that?

Nevertheless, he was here now, so he might as well make the trip worthwhile. With large strokes of his long legs he was in front of her and pulling her up until her lips were trapped against his in a rough tangle that she both fought and loved at the same time. This man was probably the only one in existence that could have made her fall in love. It was always interesting that was for sure, and she always craved excitement. He was a loose cannon with a soft side only shown to her and one other—the pink haired girl currently squealing at the display in front of her—and as masochistic as it may seem, he was also stronger than her. She wasn't about to settle for any man weaker than her, no way in hell. Therefore the strongest only seemed logical. Plus, he put up with Ganju the same way she did.

A match made in hell it may be, but somehow they made it work.

That in itself was frightening.

"What'cha doin' in here all alone anyway? Usually you've got those two fruits running around like headless chickens!"

She chuckled throatily at his very realistic observation. "Koganuhiko's off getting some food and fresh water, and Siroganuhiko's organizing the fireworks I haven't finished lately. I would usually leave things like this to them but I thought I might as well try my hand at it. Hell if I know how to be a mother!"

One of his black eyebrows arched questioningly. "What'dya mean?" His eye closed in on the bowl of water beside her and the rag on the side. "You're not cleanin' or anything are ya?"

She kicked him in the gut.

He just laughed it off even though he had been bent over her foot. She could put a lot of force into her limbs, regardless of their position. _That_ he knew quite well.

"No ya moron, my idiot brother and his gang brought this weird guy over here yesterday, and he's only woke up long enough to faint again! It's obvious he hasn't eaten in a few days but I can't do anything about that until he wakes up! I hate this waiting game! I was gonna call Seireitei 'cause those ratty hakama definitely looked like part of a shihakushou, but the guy's got no sword on him, and no Soul Reaper I know is stupid enough to go around the districts the four stooges said they found him in without a sword!" She tapped the hilt of the one strapped to the remains of her right arm for emphasis as she sighed angrily. "I don't even know _why_ I'm takin' care of him! The guy's obviously a few sentences short of a spell if ya catch my drift." She motioned over to the bed on the side wall and Yachiru instantly bounded over to the unconscious male and poked his cheek happily.

"Ken-chan, Ken-chan! We found him, we found him!!!"

The captain snorted unbelievingly before he strode over and looked down on the comatose person. With a disgusted huff he scratched his neck before walking back to the middle of the room and flopping down onto one of the cushions. "Un-freakin'-believable! We spend the time to search for the freak and he was here all along!"

Yachiru laughed cheerily and launched herself onto his shoulder. "Nu-uh Ken-chan! We were looking for here most of the time!"

Kuukaku laughed and she swore she could see faint traces of color dusted on her lover's face, but whether that was from embarrassment, anger, or both was uncertain. Only a week had gone by and he had already forgotten how to get to her house. Strength he had, a sense of direction…nonexistent. Since she was pregnant that had put a severe damper on her moving habits, so he couldn't even use that excuse anymore.

"Ichi owes us now! Yay! Fight fight fight!!"

The Shiba woman was a bit confused by that statement. "You mean Ichigo? He hasn't been back here for…well damn, when _was_ the last time he's been here?"

Kenpachi responded with another uncaring _tch._ "Too long, but I don't really care. Seen him and his brats lots over the years."

Kuukaku smiled almost sadly at that. "Yeah, you were telling me about them before, weren't you? A boy and two girls, right?"

"Yup yup!!" Yachiru announced proudly. "Glowy went bonkers fighting Captain Creepy a few days ago and Ichi asked us to look for him! He and some more guys are in the other districts!"

Now only a quizzical look was directed towards the tank-like Captain. "Glowy? Does she mean that guy?" She asked as she thumbed over to her patient.

He nodded. "Yeah, his eyes glow, so you can pretty-much figure out the rest. He didn't use to look like that, but from what we saw during the fight he and the rest of them had with Kurotsuchi, some freaky shit happened and all of a sudden he looked like _that_. He was in pretty bad shape before that too, but Kaien's a tough nut to crack. Got his dad to thank for that, I stabbed the guy in the chest and he wouldn't even die!" He noticed quite quickly that his pregnant lover had gone a shade of white comparable only to the man lying on the bed to her right.

"K-Kaien? Did you say _Kaien?_"

"Well yeah," he responded simply. "Kaien Kurosaki, Ichigo's oldest kid. Couldn't ya see the resemblance?"

She laughed uneasily, but the weight in her heart was getting lighter. _No wonder. Of course he would look like Kaien then. Quit it girl, don't go making rash conclusions right away!_ She wiped her forehead with the cloth now back in her hand.

"You alright?"

"Fine! I'm f-fine! I was just a bit disconcerted, that's all. He looks so much like my brother…"

This was computed rather easily, even with Kenpachi's terrible memory. "Right, right! The Lieutenant of Squad Thirteen was a Shiba a while ago! Died fighting if I remember right, no better way to go!" It was only after Kuukaku's hurt glare that he realized his mistake. His love of fighting often collided with his love of…love. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like…ah damn it!"

She smiled reluctantly. Watching the giant of a man practically sculpted from pure muscle stumble over his words was too entertaining to _not_ laugh. "I know what you mean. His name was Kaien too…"

The spiky-haired man scratched a particularly annoying spike. "Well damn, I forgot all about that."

"The resemblance is uncanny, I don't really know how to ex—"

This time Kaien awoke with a coughing fit, and startled her out of finishing her words. As if on cue, Koganuhiko showed up with the food—a moderate amount of fruit, some rice, and a bit of fish—and the pitcher of water she had requested. The pregnant woman was up in a flash and already grabbing for the water as she ran past him and to the unconscious man she had taken to caring for. Taking the opportunity of his at least half-conscious state, she quickly drained a cup of water into his mouth and though he sputtered at first, thankfully he reflexively swallowed and the coughs settled almost immediately. She could tell he was malnourished before, but from the sounds of his coughs he was definitely dehydrated too. No wonder he hadn't been waking up.

His eyes weren't open, but he seemed to be regaining consciousness. As such, Kuukaku wasted no time in getting him to drink more should the worst happen and he fade off again. "Damn brat, hurry and wake up! I'm gonna start forcing food down your throat if you don't do it soon!" A hoarse cough that resembled a laugh came from the pale white body and one of his hands reached up to rub his eyes, the most movement she had seen since he had been brought to her. "About time!"

His eyes opened tentatively, hurt even by the meager light of the room after being closed for so long. The eldest Shiba restrained a gasp when she saw his bi-colored eyes. Each hue was absolutely breathtaking, and she saw her lover hadn't been kidding; his eyes really did _glow_. The crystal-blue and numbing yellow both had an almost fluorescent quality to them that made them astonishing, though they were clearly trying to focus in on the world around them.

"Where…am I?"

Again, she was struck by his uniqueness. His voice had an unearthly quality to it, almost like listening to flowing water make words, though not quite to that level. As fitting as a descriptive can go, it was almost like the watery edge had been diluted. Underneath that though was a bass voice as deep as the ocean it resembled, even if it was still slightly coarse from the lack of moisture. "My house. I'm Kuukaku Shiba, and if I was told right you're…Kaien Kurosaki, right?"

He went still after that, like a shock had jolted through his system. He laughed sickly and she could see him raise an arm in front of his face, like he was checking something. "Waking up from a nightmare…is only worse when you wake up to realize it was reality…" He turned his head weakly to look over at her. "Did I say anything…strange…in my sleep?"

Again, Kuukaku found her eyebrow inching upwards again. From the way he said it, it almost sounded like he was afraid that he had. What made that all the more confusing was that he actually had, and it had been a pet-name from a brother long dead. "You might've." She left it at that. "How are you feeling?"

A weak laugh. "Like I spent three days and nights fighting Hollows in the Eightieth District! Oh wait, that's what I did!" Even if they were meant to be exclaimed with more fervor, he just didn't have the energy. He wasn't as tired as he had been before, but he was hungrier and thirstier than he had ever remembered himself being.

Gruff laughter erupted off to the side and he looked over to see Kenpachi Zaraki and Yachiru lounging on one of the cushions to Kuukaku's left. "Three days fighting without eating, drinking, or sleeping? You're welcome in the Eleventh Division any day! Most of the pussies in my squad can barely last a day on sweeping duty, let alone three of straight fighting! I hope my kid turns out like you boy!"

Only then did it dawn on Kaien that his sister from a previous life was very, _very_ pregnant. It wasn't a month or two in either, from what he could tell she was a good eight months along, mere weeks from giving birth. He looked back at her, too weak to even voice the question, though she could tell from the look on his face alone. "Yeah, a couple more weeks and Yachiru'll have a little brother."

Kaien fought the sudden urge to return to unconsciousness. When, more like _how_, in the hell had _that_ happened??

_God have mercy._

"C-Congratulations," he said instead. "May I please…have some food? A little water would…be nice too." It was said through gulps to wet his dry throat, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to speak at all.

"Lucky for you we've got the freeloader special on right now. Didn't know how well you'd be feeling after you woke up so there's mostly fruit, but I can get Koganuhiko to go get more of the rice and fish if it's needed."

He struggled to get himself upright and amazingly, she helped him until he could sit up under his own strength. "Sorry to intrude like this."

She sat down in her usual pile of cushions as she pushed the tray towards him. "Consider it a repayment. Last time your dad was here I didn't give him supper!"

He chuckled lightly. _You haven't changed a bit, Kuu-chan._ He was careful not to voice his thoughts however; he already had a sinking feeling he had done something to pique her already high sense of uneasiness. He had promised himself if he ever met Kuukaku and Ganju again he would do it as Kaien Kurosaki, not their brother. It was harder than he had thought it would be, more so since he didn't have Nejibana with him anymore to stop him should he slip up. That remainder brought a painful pang to his heart, even if he had come to terms with it.

He took a large gulp of the water to make his speech understandable. "Thank you." He looked down at the sheet covering his lower half and gulped. "I don't suppose I need to ask why you removed my hakama do I?" He was a medical candidate, of course he didn't _need_ to, it was still a bit unnerving that it had been done.

"I'll get you some new ones. Those reeked of blood, and I don't know if they could even be called hakama anymore with the amount of tears in 'em!"

He sighed. He was safe in at least one thing. Kenpachi and Kuukaku were having a kid, and they were both in the room with him. What was he safe in?

Things couldn't possibly get any _worse_ than they already were.

And hey, at least he had food.

……

She had been fine, at least she had convinced herself she had been fine for the first day at any rate. Then day two rolled around, and day three after that. She had thought _she_ had had it bad when she had been away for her Bankai training, but when she thought about it that was probably not as bad as it could have been, since she had been the one to leave under her own decision.

It really bit to be on the other end.

It didn't help that he hadn't told anyone where he was going, but she hadn't either really. The difference between the two was _she had had someone with her!_ Kaien was off on his own now, in a body even _she_ didn't know was capable of doing! Her anger was growing day by day, but worse than that still was the intense _worry_ that came with it.

It was positively amazing. Before, she had been a perpetually even-tempered, calm, smart woman that could take things in stride and make decisions rationally despite any situation around her. Throw love into the mix and her jealousy, anxiety, temperament and confidence went completely out-of-whack, and she found herself on highs and lows she hadn't experienced before. His praise was like a drug and his silence like a knife, and when he was away her negative thoughts and emotions played tricks on her without regard for what she knew to be reality. She had never thought she would be this pitiful, but this deceivingly powerful feeling known as Love had reduced her to her knees—if not just in the figurative sense. She _needed_ him, and she knew he needed her, he had told her so himself.

_Then why did you run off without me!?!_

Before, she had played around with the thought of hitting him. Now, she was _certain_ she was going to hit him. Then she might kiss him, and maybe again, and again for safe measure. _How could he do this to me!?_ She thought as she made what must have been her fourteenth comb around the district she had chosen to search. She had finally managed to get Ichigo to start sending out people to look for him yesterday. No matter what the parents said, she couldn't bring herself to believe disappearing for days at a time was a regular occurrence in Kaien's life. If it was, she was going to _rectify_ that, and _soon._

She could already visualize what she was going to do to him. She knew Hierro was still vulnerable to Kidou after all. _This, and that, and maybe a bit of that and this!!_ She thought sadistically as the imagined body went back and forth under her blows. _Then a bit of this…and…this…oh and _this_…_ She stumbled and mumbled a curse when she realized the erotic turn her thoughts had suddenly taken on her. She cursed louder when she also realized her body was responding to those thoughts accordingly.

_Winter Break is gonna be over soon dammit! I wanted to spend more time with you before I had to go back to school!_

Benitenchi found her host's situation pretty amusing to say the least.

"Oh shut up," Kin muttered embarrassedly. "What I don't get, _you_ don't get!" _Wow, should've used that when I was training for Bankai!_

The redhead within wasn't laughing.

_Jeez, lighten up!_

"_Do you _know_ what happens in here when you start fantasizing!?"_ the crimson-eyed woman whimpered embarrassedly directly into her head, and she could practically see the rosy glow on her zanpakutou's cheeks. Kin snickered; now she really, _really_ needed to find Kaien.

A sudden, giant rise in reiatsu from way over in the West district of Rukon caught her attention instantly. That had been the signal if anyone found him, and Kin laughed joyfully, both in relief and merriment. _Guess Kenpachi found him first. Poor Dad, now he's going to have to pay up on his promise! _She laughed again, and part of that was because she could actually start calling Ichigo 'dad'. _And here Seireitei was finally getting peaceful again._

She turned in the direction of the flaring energy and took off at full speed.

……

Kaien relaxed against the wall that made up the one side of the futon he had been put on, sated after all the food he had eaten and the rest he had gotten, even if it had been more of a coma. Kuukaku hadn't stopped gaping at him as he ate more and more, and he actually felt pretty bad for eating so much of her food. Kenpachi though just seemed to be amusing himself with the facial expressions of his lover after Yachiru had been appeased with a wide variety of candy.

Kuukaku was well prepared for the little girl it would seem, but he knew very well that the woman had a weakness for the sugary confection too. It kind of bothered him that he was only in his boxers around these people, but they didn't seem to be affected at all. "Thank you for the meal," he said as he bowed appreciatively.

The fireworks expert seemed torn between embarrassment and frustration, though why she would be embarrassed he would never know. If he had to make a guess, it would be because he looked so much like her dead brother, and that wasn't made any easier since essentially he _was_ her dead brother. The nostalgia in the air was almost palpable. "W-Well you'd better be!!" she yelled back with an almost alarmingly cute fluster. "Y-You ate enough!!"

Kenpachi laughed. "Four nights and three days without food'll do that ta a warrior! So boy, wanna fight? My blade's been itching ever since you turned into whatever you are!"

"No!" Surprisingly, it had been Kuukaku that had made that rather vehement statement. "No fighting in or around this house!! You hear me!?" she threatened angrily as she shook her fist at them. One did not want to get on the bad side of Kuukaku Shiba, and said side was even worse to get on in her child-bearing state. It was like playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun on a hair trigger, it just wasn't done if one wanted to live.

After all, she was in no condition to fix her house. Otherwise, she wouldn't have cared.

Kaien grinned stupidly and rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks for the save!"

That grin sparked so many memories in the black-haired woman she felt tears stinging her eyes. She couldn't look at him anymore; even his gestures were exactly like her Kaien's! She ran out of the room holding her swollen stomach for support. "I'm going to get you some clothes!!"

Kaien felt his chest constrict. He knew what had happened, he'd have to be blind not to know. It had been an instinctive reaction, one he had gained in this life just like the last. True, that made him feel like a copy more than he would like, but Nejibana and Kin had always reminded him of his uniqueness, and he had already beat himself up enough to last him a lifetime. He was Kaien Kurosaki, but it was obvious to others it wasn't that simple.

"Dammit…" He sighed sadly. "Screw it, I need a shower, or bath, or something! If I'm getting fresh clothes than I'm not staying in three days worth of crud!"

Yachiru squealed excitedly. " Bathroom's way down the hall, Glowy! Can we play later!?"

He resisted the urge to sweat. When Yachiru said 'play' he felt a chill go down his spine. To her, _play_ing probably meant something completely different than normal. "M-Maybe." It was the safest course of action. Walking around in his boxers in a stranger's…well, in someone else's home wasn't exactly sitting right with him either, so he wrapped the sheet around his waist and walked out the side door, trying to forget Yachiru's excited cheering behind him; something about 'Bishounen bishounen! So pretty'… he didn't want to think about it any further.

He didn't exactly know this particular house, but its layout was alarmingly similar to the one he had lived in as a Shiba, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to find the bathroom even without Yachiru's _helpful_ advice. He tried not to be too surprised when he saw even the bathroom was almost identical to the one he had once known, and he stopped dead when he walked past the mirror and caught his reflection.

He had changed more than he had previously realized. Far, far more.

The skin was easily seen, and he had caught a few glimpses of the ends of his hair when it fell over his eyes, but the hypnotic effect of his new hair was a lot to absorb, more so since that strip of blue so out-of-place on his head was exactly like that of Nejibana's. That his Grimmjow-like tattoos were gone was shocking, as was the sudden appearance of the flaming replacement that had taken residence around his left eye, but what had numbed his very bones was the pale azure orb looking back at him where once his right yellow eye had been.

_She literally…she literally became a part of me._ A coarse, one-breath laugh choked itself out his lungs and he steadied himself on the wall holding the mirror. _So this…was what my soul was really meant to look like? My Hollow blood and zanpakutou body united? What a cruel joke…_

He sighed as he removed the sheet he had been using as a covering and his boxers as he looked over at the miniature hot-springs the Shiba woman had somehow recreated in her home. One last time he looked back at his reflection. "I'll never forget you. It almost seems like you're watching me with this eye even though I know that you're gone. I'll never be the same because of you, and yes, I mean other than these changes!"

He laughed lightheartedly as he walked over and sunk himself into the water. _Now I'm talking to myself. I guess it does feel good just to say it out loud every once in a while._

There was a large rise in Kenpachi's reiatsu, but he shrugged it off after it ended almost as soon as it began. It didn't even cross his mind that that might have been a signal.

The door slammed open and Kaien sputtered around frantically until he simply dunked all but his eyes underwater. "Got some clothes for you, kid! They're right by the door!" And he thought he heard the door closing.

He sighed in relief as he sat up again. "Jeez, she still doesn't knock. You're in for a rude awakening when your kid becomes a teenager, Kuu-chan!" He said to himself with a snicker. He froze when he heard something crash near the door, and he turned sharply to see that Kuukaku hadn't left the room yet, and she was staring at him like he was a ghost…or more accurately the ghost of a ghost. Soul Society really made similes hard.

Not even a second later her expression had hardened into one of pure hatred and she had unsheathed the sword strapped to the remains of her right arm. Before even that could be seen by regular eyes she had launched herself over the floor and behind the spring he was in, the blade set tight against his throat from behind.

"Tell me," she hissed through tears, "tell me who the hell you are, or I swear to God I will kill you here and now!"

He was confident in his steel skin, but with enough force anything could be cut, and as she was right then Kaien had no doubts that she could relieve his neck of his head rather easily. The hand holding the blade was trembling against his throat, and his heart sunk. "I'm Kaien Kurosaki."

"DON'T BULLSHIT ME!! No-one knows that name except me and Ganju! It's been that way ever since…!!" The trembling was stronger now, and the infamously tough woman was crying openly even as the sword threatened to bite into his flesh. She couldn't even bring herself to say the name of her dead brother, not when this stranger had the same name.

His sighed and tried to adjust his seating so the sword wouldn't cut him any further if he spoke. "You can call it an accident, a miracle, a freak of nature, a divine joke, or maybe something that was fated to happen ever since Aizen started creating the experimental Hollows. Call it what you will, but I was born with all the memories of the Soul Reaper Kaien Shiba. I didn't know anything about it until I met Nejibana again five years ago, and I've only been able to get some kind of hold over them a few days ago. I never asked for this! I'm sorry that I can't help certain things or habits, but I'm Kaien Kurosaki now!"

The sword dropped from her shaking fingers and she fell to the ground beside the smooth rock she had set to be the wall for the manmade spring. "A reincarnation…with every memory…? That's….that's not possible…"

He slumped against the wall he had been so rigidly sitting against to keep the sword as far away from his throat as possible and sighed in relief. "Like I said, I don't know how it happened, it just happened. I know I've got no right to know you like I do, but sometimes the emotions he used to feel just slip out and I say things that I shouldn't know!" He heard the sobs from behind him and he winced. "I'm sorry. I'll leave right away."

A pained cry from behind him shot through his hypersensitive senses and he spun around in the water to see that Kuukaku had collapsed onto the floor clutching her stomach. "My baby, my baby…!"

Kaien's eyes widened in horror before he quickly jumped out of the water and put on his boxers before making a speedy exit out the bathroom with the pregnant woman in his arms. _Dammit dammit dammit dammit! All the stress must have triggered her contractions!_

He set her down gently on the futon he had been in previously and set to work setting the cushions under her to make her the most comfortable before placing his hands on her abdomen. Her breath was coming in short pants and she was crying out in pain as her face warped in agony, something he had never before seen even as her older brother. "Breathe! Come on start breathing Kuukaku!"

Her eyes squinted open to see his serious face looking back at her, his odd eyes boring into her with the conviction of the man she just met and the man she had known all of her early life. It hurt, it really hurt, but she managed to start breathing at a normal, if not extremely heavy, pace. "That's good, that's really good! Keep breathing like that, try to calm down!"

_Gotta be two weeks left at least! In the Living World this'd be no problem but here we're risking brain damage to the newborn if it comes out of the womb too soon!! It's not ready to live on its own yet!_ He was vaguely aware of Kenpachi and Yachiru rushing into the room, but he couldn't waste valuable concentration on anything other than his ailing patient.

"What the hell's goin' on in here!? I thought she wasn't due for another two weeks!?!!" It was gruff and loud, but there was definite concern in his voice. He may not be the brightest of the bunch, but he knew enough to figure out if something happened before it was meant to, that probably wasn't a good thing.

Kaien didn't even hear him, instead he was focusing on intricately melding his medically trained reiatsu where she needed it, otherwise he wouldn't be able to stop the stress-induced labor.

"I asked you what was going on, brat!!!" he roared as he slapped one of his large hands on the Kurosaki child's shoulder.

Kaien instantly whirled his head over and glared without mercy at the Eleventh Division captain, regardless of his reputation. "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!! If you want your kid to live than just shut the hell up and let me work!!"

Kenpachi was so stunned at the response of the healer that he actually responded to the words and not the threat inside them. No father, not even Kenpachi Zaraki, would do anything that would jeopardize the life of their child, or the mother of their child. He sat down, speechless, and for once Yachiru just sat beside him carrying a worried expression on her cute face. She had seen pain inflicted by weapons before, but the pain she was witnessing crossing over the fireworks expert's face made even her quiet.

_No pain medication, no anesthetic, no nothing! This has to be perfect on my part or else she could really give birth right now!_ Kaien thought desperately as he focused his reiatsu control into her spastic muscles. "Keep breathing Kuukaku, don't stop for a second! Focus only on your breathing!"

The demonic black reiatsu could be seen radiating from his hands but right then color didn't matter, only the purpose. Little by little the color started returning to Kuukaku's face and her breathing got easier until the only remnant of what had just happened was the sweat beading off her skin.

Kaien flopped back onto the floor, still clad in only his boxers, and closed his eyes as he gasped for breath. That had been the most nerve-wracking ordeal he had ever been in as someone in the medical field. Kuukaku had fallen into a deep sleep on the spot and thankfully it looked like everything had returned to normal.

He felt his arm being poked cautiously and he opened an eye to see who it was. Yachiru looked back at him with worry flooding her childlike features as she looked between him and the sleeping woman. "Is Boomy-chan gonna be alright, Glowy?"

Slowly, he picked himself up off the ground and sat down casually. "She's fine now. Too much stress to her system brought her into fake contractions that I needed to stop before they actually induced labor. Everything's going to be fine now."

A shadow fell over them both and he looked up to see the imposing figure of Kenpachi Zaraki standing above them. His face was grave, and for a long time he didn't say anything, but when he turned his back and walked over to her bedside, he stopped momentarily. "Thanks…kid." And with that he sat down at her side.

The white-haired youth smiled before pulling himself up and walking back to the bathroom. Since he was so sweaty after exerting so much of his spirit force, he only dunked himself back in for a second to get rid of the sweat before he finally got dressed. It was a simple white kimono, yet he recognized it because of the Shiba marking on the left arm, meaning it was one Kaien Shiba had once owned. It was loose enough for maximum comfort and the material wasn't anything to laugh at, but that may have been because though it was in decline, the Shiba house was still a family of nobles. It was a big change from the crisp uniform he usually wore, but he wasn't complaining.

He was refreshed and yet exhausted, in fact it almost felt like he had returned to being a normal human again. His power wasn't overwhelming nor was it lacking, he just felt…normal. It was a nice feeling. He hadn't been out since he had gotten here, however impossible that may have been at the time, and so he walked right past the room the others were in and up the stairs to the exit. He walked out into the afternoon sun and in just a blink he reopened his eyes to see Kin right in front of him.

And from the looks of things she was _not_ happy.

"Oh shit."

_This_…was gonna hurt.

……

**Author's Notes:** I'm sorry everyone, life's been…well, hell, lately, so I haven't even had time to do any editing. I'm trying to get done a chapter for another story I'm working on, and yet another too, so I'm severely behind where I want to be in my writing. I thought I should edit this though, because all I needed to do was edit. That I didn't have time for that kinda gives you a clue as to how my life's been going lately.

Anywho, thanks for reading everyone, and I hope you stick around! I _will_ get this done, believe me. Thank you even more to those that continue to review!


	24. What Sweet Punishment

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Just for safe warning, yes, this chapter contains Lemon.**

**.**

**What Sweet Punishment**

**..**

_He walked out into the afternoon sun and in just a blink he reopened his eyes to see Kin right in front of him._

_And from the looks of things she was not happy._

"_Oh shit."_

_This…was gonna hurt._

…

Her bright yellow eyes blazed in the light of the sun as the field grass swayed in the breeze around them, and they were fixed solely on the person that had walked out the front door of the house in front of her. In other words: him. He could tell from the perspiration on her skin that she had been running for a good deal of time, and her body's every definition could be seen from the way her muscles had tensed in aggravation. Her beautiful blond hair was sticking to the sides of her bronze face and her long ponytail was limp against her back, even though the breeze should have been enough to cause movement.

Blue light sparked from her fist, and he gulped worriedly before she pulled back and punched him right in the face ahead of anything he might have had time to say, sending him flying into the trees to the house's right. He flipped backwards and skidded to a stop with his bare feet, condemned to simply watching as his fiancé stalked towards him like a demon as lightning crackled murderously on her back. His cheek stung horribly and it was all he could do not to clutch it out of reflex, but he knew he was going to need his hands for other, far more important things. Like saving his life for example.

He wiped his mouth of the spittle that had fallen at her punch and chuckled nervously. "Nice to see you too."

Her golden eyes bored into him, not amused at his attempt at humor. "Three days…" she hissed darkly. "THREE. DAYS."

She vanished from his sight and in the time it took lightning to travel Kaien was already moving, nineteen other copies of himself scattered across the landscape in his speed. This didn't bother her at all, if anything it just provoked her to go even faster, hitting as many of the images as she could until she found which afterimage was the real one. Meanwhile Kaien was trying to keep the consternation off his face, because the blows she was landing would really freaking hurt if he was the actual one on the receiving end. He couldn't stop his eyes from widening when she honed in on him, and she knew she had found him when instead of taking the hit, he dodged it. She didn't give him any time to get back into Gemelos Sonido as the Kidou on her back flared out like a volcanic eruption and made running to any other area impossible, leaving him open in front of her.

She tore into him like a pack of ravenous wolves with fresh blood in their senses. Hundreds of punches came at him in the time it would take the Living World's fastest martial artist to make one, and it was only thanks to his own aptitude for speed that he was able to dodge ninety-nine out of the hundred that came at him periodically.

That still meant he was being hit once, at _least_, and those suckers _hurt_.

"Kin." Punch. "Dammit." Another punch. "Let." Kick. "Me." The next punch caught him square in the eye and rattled his head like a punching bag. _Shit that burns!!!_ He was surprised his right eye hadn't swollen shut immediately, but it was certainly going to leave a mark. "Speak, dammit!" She paused, but only for a millisecond. It seemed her anger wasn't about to be extinguished that easily. He cursed under his breath as he fought the rising urge to ensnare her in his newly-acquired tendrils. "Please." Punch "I'm." Kick. "Sorry." Kiss.

…

Wait, kiss?

His brain shot-circuited at the sudden sensation that was nothing like the pain she had been trying to dish out ever since she had laid eyes on him again. It wasn't soft or gentle either; it was forceful, hungry, desperate, and _needy_. If he hadn't already, Kaien now felt like more of an ass than ever before. The brilliant light dancing off her back disappeared in a flash and she had wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace just as conflicted as her kiss. He could see the tears falling from her eyes now, and as she withdrew from his lips she all but collapsed into his chest, supported only by the slackening grip around his neck.

He wrapped his arms around her softly and drew her as close as he could to him while she sobbed into his kimono. "I'm sorry," he repeated mournfully. "I always try to protect you, but ever since I came back the only thing that's been making you cry is me…"

The arms around his neck suddenly went rigid, and not more than a second later she had pulled herself up again and stolen another searing kiss from his unsuspecting lips. Desire was tangible in the air around them, the clearing in the woods thick with pheromones from both bodies present. Kaien was far more prepared to reciprocate this kiss than the last one, and his lover's tense body nearly went limp when he proceeded to devour her unashamedly. He couldn't really say he had consciously missed her, as he had been in a near mindless state of rage for the majority of his time away, but in his heart he knew he had left behind the other half of himself, and it was currently rejoicing at being reunited with said half. Subconsciously or not, he had missed her, and there was no better feeling than having her firmly in his arms.

He fought down the arousal coursing through him from her amazing kisses. Disappearing for days and expecting physical pleasure right after return was egotistical to say the least, and he had been selfish enough over the past three days.

Kin though, had other ideas.

She hadn't known how to react when she saw him again, but the first thing that came to mind was pain, so she had chosen that. Hearing his voice again, his regret, overrode that desire and instead the other emotion had reared its head: her _need_. She had missed him, the safety net she had come to love, the man that held her heart and soul, the lover who made her body burn with the simplest gesture. She had _missed_ him, and she _wanted_ him. She felt his growing arousal pressing against her and smiled sadistically in their kiss as she pulled away and heard him pant against her neck huskily. That alone sent indescribable tremors through her desperate body and even _she_ could smell her arousal mixing with her sweat.

"You're _mine_, Kaien. You ran away without giving me so much as a hint and had me worrying for three entire days. You. Are. Mine," she purred sensuously and dug her teeth into the flesh of his neck, which earned her a harsh gasp. His knees failed him and he ended up leaning against a tree with her still held intimately against him. She licked the bruised spot she had made on his neck tortuously and his breathing turned ragged under her hot tongue. _That_ mark would take a while to heal. She had complete control even though he was a whole head taller than her, not to mention the one she was being held by at the moment.

"God, Kin, what are you…" he gasped heavily as she turned her attention to his collarbone and proceeded to mimic her action on his neck. "…doing…to…me…!?" He was so hard it was getting painful, and since he was in no position to rearrange himself into a less constricting place in his boxers, he could do nothing but bite his bottom lip as she continued to place boiling kisses on his ashen skin as she rubbed her core along the tent in his pants in agonizingly slow motions.

"You know exactly what I'm doing to you," she crooned seductively as one of her hands trailed down between them to deftly untie the obi keeping his hakama up and his haori closed. When her thin, feminine hand grasped his aching shaft his knees buckled completely and they slid to the ground, where she smiled dangerously and slid his hakama and boxers down until she could see his erection pointing into the air proudly. She gulped unwittingly; it felt even bigger than she could remember in her hand, and all the blood pounding into the hard flesh had the veins thick and ridged. God she wanted it, but she had to torture him a bit first. It was only fair.

If she was bothered by the way the body she once knew was now completely white she didn't show it, instead she seemed to cherish it all the more, worshiping each inch of impressive muscle down his chest with her tongue, much to his very vocal approval. "You're mine. Each and every inch of you belongs to me. You were the one that told me that, Kaien." Her lips closed in over one of his erect nipples and he shuddered at the odd, but not unwelcome pleasure that jolted through him. She rolled the nub around her tongue just like he did to her so often and he groaned almost in despair. She was killing him, he was sure of it. She turned her attention to his other nipple as she started slowly pumping the flesh in her hand, greatly enjoying the way his hips started bucking almost immediately to try and get more friction.

"Dammit…oh dammit Kin…"

The hoarse, near panicked voice of her lover lost in pleasure that she wouldn't let peak sent shivers through her, and she found her underwear much too wet for her to keep on, though she couldn't do anything about it. It was one of the few downsides of this very positive situation. She had his one hand pinned with her superhuman strength, and the other was gripping the ground in a spastic hold, knowing enough that if he even tried to touch her she would simply let go of what she was fondling to pin it back down. It was a lose-lose scenario for him.

His body felt like it was on fire. It wasn't even the fact that she was doing amazing things to his nether-regions, it was that all of her attention was on him, on every other erogenous zone he might have ever had on his body, and she was making sure she found every one of them one by one. He had done this to her before, but for some reason he had never expected the tables to be turned. He could barely breathe; it just felt way too good. They only had limited experience with each other, but those limited experiences often lasted a long time. He didn't know where she was pulling her knowledge from, but his body had simply shut off and told him to enjoy it while it lasted.

And oh how he hoped it lasted, even if it was pure torture at the same time.

"Shit!" he cried when her sharp teeth and seemingly superheated tongue unexpectedly assaulted one of his ears. He knew hers were sensitive, but he had never thought his would be too. He resisted the urge to writhe beneath her even though his hips had already rejected his control and were openly thrusting into her hand. She was way too good at this.

His blue eye squinted open to peek over at the woman currently tormenting him, and saw her face flushed with heat as she breathed in light gasps to hide her aching body from his senses. Her eyes were flooded with wanton desire and her breasts were bouncing with each light gasp she took in. She was still fully clothed, and her skin was shimmering in the light breaking through the trees from the sweat glistening down her bronze skin.

She looked like an angel, an unbelievably hot, sexy angel.

"Gah!" The sound came from him without warning, and he gritted his teeth. She was an angel all right, an angel currently sending his body on a one-way trip to heaven.

Kin was having troubles of her own. During their lovemaking his voice had always enraptured her, but now, as the watery tinge made his voice like something from dreams, she was having a hard time controlling herself. He was naked from the waist down, and even his haori was haphazardly covering his arms at best, loosely dangling from his body, leaving his entire chiseled chest open to the air. Even after three days, he was still white, and for some reason she found she didn't mind that.

She loved him. She loved _him_, no matter what color he was. She simply loved…him.

And right now he looked like a Greek god, trying desperately to save himself from the clutches of bliss. His pale muscles were taut with effort, and his skin shone ephemerally in the sun like a precious gem, like a legendary creature carved from ice come to life. The marks she had made on his neck and collarbone stood out in stark contrast to the rest of his body, but they were _hers_, her marks of possession on him. She was so wet, and she wanted him so badly. He was arousing her beyond what she had ever thought possible, and she was the one that was supposed to be tormenting him!

"Are you close?" she whispered brokenly into his ear, and he just about whimpered. She knew for damn well that he was close, and she had slowed her pace dramatically. He wanted to scream. "I'm not going to allow you to."

His eyes widened when she removed her hand from his throbbing arousal, leaving him stranded so close to the edge. He swung his head back and hit himself on the tree he had been propped against. It was so frustrating! He wouldn't beg though, no amount of teasing could lead him to beg. He would admit a lot of things, but he would not beg. His eyes met hers and just as his mouth was about to open she had pulled her hands back to her body and thrown her tight spandex shirt from her body, allowing her glistening breasts to bounce into view.

Kaien instantly forgot whatever he might have wanted to say.

Wasting no time, Kin stood and undid her obi, unmoving as the loose hakama fell to the ground. His mouth watered when he saw her skimpy underwear, far wetter than any other area coated in sweat around it. Her smell was overpowering, intoxicating, and it made him harder than he already was, which was now too sensitive to bear silently. She went even further than that however, and reached behind her head to flip off the band keeping her hair in place. She shook her head playfully and let the golden strands flare around her head before falling over her shoulders and down her back as she ran her hands down her sweat-slicked body.

His mouth lost any and all moisture it might have gained. She wasn't an angel.

She was a _goddess._

She sent him a sultry smile as she crawled over to his lap and positioned herself over him, and a small whine escaped her when her soaked folds met the tip of his hypersensitive erection, one that he mimicked in beautiful agony. The feel of her so close to him after being held back from climax was almost too much. "I think I've punished you enough," she said huskily as she grinned again, and he didn't have the ability to grin back. His mind was focused elsewhere at the moment. "My turn."

She lowered herself down onto him, and she didn't know whether or not it was the position or all her previous treatment, but whatever it was he was thicker than ever before and so deep within her she felt like she was going to die. The rough organ scratched so many places within her she didn't even need to move to be set alight, and her breathing was now just as ragged as his was. "Oh god…" she whimpered helplessly as she tried to get up the strength to move.

It was so tight, and so breathtakingly awesome she nearly cried. He was so far within her it was almost like she could feel him everywhere, even as her muscles trembled and her inner walls shivered over the welcome intruder, like she didn't know whether she wanted him out or farther in. The experience was too much, she couldn't move; she could barely _breathe._ She had been waiting days for this.

Kaien smirked weakly and slammed his hips up sharply, bouncing her on the full length of his shaft. A shrill cry crashed out of her mouth and he quickly pushed himself up to capture her lips and swallow the sound. She had tortured him, sent him so close to the edge and left him hanging. He was going to remind her who she was messing with.

She moaned into his mouth as their tongues wrestled with each other and he bucked into her again when she started sucking on his tongue, something neither of them had ever done before. Her eroticism never ceased to amaze him today. He was simply in awe of her.

Her head fell back limply as she moaned happily while she ground her pelvis into his, and he buried his head in the nape of her neck just to cover his cries. It felt too good, tighter than ever before, and she looked simply amazing, riding him in the middle of a forest as light dwindled through the trees. Returning the favor, Kaien bit into the flesh of her neck and stiffened when her inner muscles tightened around him immensely. He laved the area he had bitten with attention and every time she convulsed around him.

"Harder…harder…!!!"

He planted his hands firmly on her hips and helped lift her up before forcefully bringing her back down and impaling her once again, something just as good for him as it was for her. She screamed in bliss and bit her knuckle to try and keep quiet, which made her look much too cute in his eyes as he watched her bounce on his sex erotically. The combination yet contrast of cute and sexual were nearly too much for him to take in.

"So close…I'm so close!!!" she cried in ecstasy.

Kaien was too lost in her to even care that he had managed to bring her so far without even reaching his peak after being denied the opportunity to. Kin didn't even bother opening her eyes as she felt his warm mouth fighting hers again, and as they kissed and bucked into each other in abandon, they reached the crescendo they had been hoping for in a wild display of sweat and skin.

Kin slumped against her lover's chest, reveling in the warmth pooling within her as her body shook in the remnants of the climax that had rippled through her like a tidal wave. "I love you Kaien, and I missed you. Please…don't ever do that to me again…"

His mind was slowly returning to him from the haze of pleasure that had been put over it, and he smiled happily. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing you say that. I love you too, and I promise, from now on, I'll never do it again. Not without you."

Those words made tears sting her eyes, tears of joy that had been threatening to fall every second he pounded into her, joined their bodies as their souls already were. "You may be an idiot, but you're _my_ idiot."

He kept smiling as he combed his fingers through her wet hair and simply enjoyed the way their slick bodies meshed together.

"Now and forever."

…

Kin wasn't the only one to have felt the flare of reiatsu from the Eleventh Division captain, so naturally, those out searching for him had either been sent back to Seireitei or—were they family members for example—they had immediately took off to the source of aforementioned flare.

One could only imagine their surprise then when they came to a house in the middle of nowhere with a giant sign stating who the owner was, suspended between two giant slingshots.

The three teens standing in front of it after rushing to the point of origin were in a stupefied trance. "I don't know where to begin when it comes to what's wrong with this picture…" Masaki said confusedly as she scratched the side of her head.

Tsukiyomi's raised eyebrow said it all. _**"Gaudy doesn't begin to describe it."**_

Sora merely smiled as he shook his head. "Certainly not shy, whoever this Kuukaku person is."

"You can say that again," a voice said from behind them, and they all jumped in surprise, just to turn around and see Ichigo setting down Tatsuki. He wasn't about to let her run that far after all.

"I take it you know this guy?" the orange-haired Ishida stated plainly as he thumbed over at the gigantic banner.

Ichigo chuckled. "_SHE_ is someone you don't want to piss off, believe me."

The three blanched. The person who had done this crime against nature was a _woman!?_

"Strange kind of symmetry if you ask me. Must be fate for him to end up here," Tatsuki noted with a sigh. "Well, we might as well get in there. Seems like Kin's giving him the one-over right now; no point waiting outside." The lightning in the distance on the clear blue sky testified to the truth of her comment.

"He deserves it. Heck, she was more worried than any of us!" Masaki quipped with a large grin.

Her sister chuckled darkly. _**"Makes you wonder where those bruises'll be though…"**_ she trailed off ominously and turned back to the door. Sora was now trying to fight off the light blush rising on his cheeks and Masaki had no clue what had been insinuated whatsoever, until with a little help from a much more knowledgeable source inside she too turned a bright shade of red and sputtered nonsense embarrassedly. Ichigo and Tatsuki just smiled knowingly. If there was one thing they knew, it was make-up sex.

They chuckled and Ichigo went and knocked on the door.

Not very surprisingly, they were greeted by one of the servants of the household, Siroganuhiko. "Master Ichigo! It's been a long time!" the strange man welcomed exuberantly. "You must be here regarding Master Kenpachi and the stranger's presence, correct?"

He and Tatsuki both nodded. "Yeah, that'd be why. Could you take us to them?"

The large man inclined his head slightly. "Of course. Right this way."

Masaki, Tsukiyomi and Sora looked at each other strangely before shrugging and following him into the house. Their first impression? He was weird.

They hadn't even met the other one yet.

If there had been anything Ichigo and Tatsuki had been expecting after meeting her again after so long, it definitely wasn't for her to be prone on a bed with Kenpachi sitting sullenly beside her. Then of course, they noticed the large swell that had taken up residence where her thin stomach had once been.

The first thought that came to mind was: who in their right mind would get _Kuukaku_ pregnant!? And naturally, who in _any_ mind would Kuukaku _let_ get her pregnant!?

"Well…this is awkward," Tatsuki said at last. "She okay?"

Kenpachi turned to regard them casually. He wasn't the type to get worried, angry yes, furious yes, and even though those were distractions to hide the fact that he was worried, he wasn't the type to admit it either. "Your brat didn't explain anything to me, but I probably wouldn't have even understood it if he tried!" If they didn't know any better, they would have thought his aloof demeanor was actually _forced_. "All I know is it looked like Kuu was gonna have the kid and Kaien stopped it from happening."

They disregarded the fact that he had just used 'Kuu' instead of 'Kuukaku' or 'woman'. "Was she due?" Ichigo asked quizzically.

The spiky-haired captain shook his head. "Not for another couple weeks. The kid said somethin' 'bout keepin' the baby alive, so I didn't ask anymore."

"Premature births aren't that big of a deal in the Living World, but here's a different story. There are way too many things that could go wrong here, the largest of those being permanent brain damage. She's lucky he was here if that's the case, because what you described were fake contractions. She must have been pretty stressed."

Kenpachi snorted. "Like hell she was! She's been fine every time I've come to check up on her and it wasn't until your brat showed up that this happened!"

The two parents knew the likeliest reason. They hadn't introduced their kids to most of the Society, and for Kaien to show up unannounced at the place where his family from a past life was…. Well, they knew what had probably happened. Kuukaku was by no means stupid.

Tatsuki was the first to catch what had been wrong with the previous sentence. "Wait a minute, you come out to visit her _often_?"

"Well, yeah. She didn't want to come live in Seireitei so I've been comin' out here instead. Gotta make sure she's alright. I might'a been fine without a ma or pa but I wouldn't wish that on nobody, 'specially not my own brat."

It was pretty obvious what happened next.

After that mental and emotional trauma had been dealt, things settled back to relative normalcy, well, as normal as one can get after realizing that Kenpachi Zaraki was actually going to father a child, and that one of the most violent women they had ever met was going to be the mother of said child. Ichigo and his equally stunned wife were already thinking of possible baby names too.

Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, Diablo; the kinds of things that warmed the heart.

Out of sheer terror maybe.

It was a silence that none of them particularly liked that followed, and all because they were waiting for someone when they could have been out exploring still. The teens hadn't nearly covered even half of Seireitei, but they had to admit seeing some of the Rukon districts wasn't that bad either. Besides, some rather radical changes had happened to the person they were waiting for before he had ran off. They had to see if the changes were permanent or not.

"Really, what's taking them so long? What on earth is she doing to him?" Masaki asked, and only after it was out of her mouth did she realize the other interpretations those words could have.

"_**Not like you to be so forward,"**_ Tsukiyomi purred tauntingly. Sora didn't comment, his imagination had taken off in far too many directions for the normally calm and cool Quincy.

"Girls…" Ichigo warned, and Tsuki pouted exaggeratedly, something that caught the father off-guard just because he hadn't seen it in so long.

"Jeez, she's got you wrapped around her finger, like always," Tatsuki joked as she rolled her eyes. He was just like his father, a complete doormat for his daughters. Then again, he wasn't nearly as bad with Kaien as Isshin had been—and still was—with him.

"What's goin' on in here!?" a loud gruff voice exclaimed unexpectedly.

Ichigo craned his head around to see who the newest arrival was. "Oh great. Ladies and gentlemen, the sideburns of doom have arrived."

It was Ganju Shiba.

He then seemed to input who the people in the room were. "I-Ichigo? Wow, it's been ages!"

The orange-haired man grinned and saluted sarcastically. "Yo."

"Whoa, and two mini dandelion-heads too! No wonder you were away for so long!"

Sora's eyebrow started twitching as he adjusted his glasses out of habit. "My name is Sora _Ishida_, thank you," the teen said calmly.

The large man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "No kidding? Never thought that archer'd have a kid like you."

A blue projectile tore through the fabric of his crotch, and Ganju gave a very unmanly cry of surprise.

Sora glared at the man as his fairy returned to his finger. "And you might not get the chance."

Ichigo laughed heartily. "Well played!"

Tsukiyomi straightened smugly beside her time-defying boyfriend. He wasn't anyone to make fun of, and that made her very proud, both of him and herself, for being with him. She was really…happy she had chosen him.

"And who might you be?" the big man asked, staring down at her with a dumb-ass grin.

"_**My name's Tsukiyomi. And my sister's name is Masaki, not dandelion-head by the way, ya gorilla."**_

This time Ichigo fell over laughing while Ganju's veins started throbbing in his forehead. "Anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?"

"_**Anyone ever teach you fashion sense or were you just **_**born**_** colorblind?"**_

Ichigo was dying on the floor now. _Who coulda thought my little girl would put up with him the same way I do!? Tsuki you are definitely getting a bigger allowance!_

"Like you can talk, you walking monochrome!"

"_**Big words coming from the missing link in evolution!"**_

"Did'ja swallow a flashlight or is the inside of your head so empty the light just bounces back out!?"

"_**Must have been hard stringing all those words together. Does your brain hurt yet!?"**_

"Monochrome!"

"_**Ape-man!"**_

"Monochrome!"

"_**Ape-man!"**_

"Mono—"

A sword suddenly embedded itself in the wall right by Ganju's head, where it vibrated softly. All noise died immediately as the man gulped heavily. "Will you all just shut the hell up and let me sleep!?!" Kuukaku yelled furiously, and her outstretched hand spoke all too well of who had thrown that particular sword. She fell back to the bed rather quickly, as the quick trip upright hadn't been the best for her blood flow.

"Picking on each other like always. Guess some things just don't change."

They all turned at the odd voice that had so mockingly entered their room and there stood Kaien in the white kimono he had borrowed, Kin right beside him with a rather peachy look on her face. Most in the room had frozen solid upon witnessing the changes had in fact been permanent, but relief was still foremost in their minds.

Tsukiyomi and Masaki instantly ran to their brother and the three embraced with tears of joy on the younger sisters' faces. "How many times do we have to tell you not to run away like that!?" Masaki cried happily as she fought between wanting to cry and wanting to laugh.

"I lost count a long time ago."

Tsuki merely chose to keep a hard grip around his midsection, and when she looked up at him she smiled brightly as she saw his face, both of them equally unnerved. For him: seeing her smile like that; and her: seeing his face like it was, period. _**"I guess I can see a family resemblance now…"**_ She didn't tell him that she could see the beginnings of hickeys just barely being covered by his kimono since she was so close, and so her initial assumptions had proven correct. He smelled of salt water, so she guessed they had found some place to wash off before they had returned. She couldn't wait until she was older now; adult relationships seemed very interesting.

Kaien laughed at her assessment. "Well, that's a good thing I guess."

Ganju smirked proudly. "Seems like you're up and about now eh? When my boys found you you were near dead. Gotta give you Soul Reapers some credit, you're harder to kill than cockroaches! You better thank my sis when she wakes up, it's a miracle she even took care of you at all!"

Kaien didn't recognize the man in front of him, as Ganju had just been a little boy when he had died. However, there were enough things about him to make the connection, the largest of which being he had just called Kuukaku 'sis'. "So you're Ganju then?"

The man in question took a step back at the look in the strange man's eyes. He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew him…. "Hear that from Sis?"

"Unless you call 'my idiot brother' your name I don't think so," he said with a large grin, one that shook Ganju to his core. He knew that grin, but it couldn't be.

"The name's Ganju Shiba! I think I deserve a bit of thanks, seeing how my gang and I saved your butt," he said snottily with a proud flick of his nose.

"Kaien Kurosaki," he replied as he stretched out his hand towards the other man.

Ganju had reacted the same way Kuukaku had, that of changing to a rather startling shade of white as he too reached out to shake the outstretched appendage with a shivering hand. "K-Kaien?"

"That's my name."

"We hope you don't mind us using it. It just seemed so perfect when he was born," Tatsuki cut in rather suddenly. _In more ways than one..._ she finished inwardly.

"N-N-No, it's fine. I'm sure Onii-chan would be honored. Ichigo did help save the Soul Reapers he loved so much…" Ganju trailed off, unable to tear his eyes away from scanning over the man in front of him, just as Kuukaku had done.

"At least you grew up somewhat wise! I was worried you'd be a crybaby for the rest of your life!" Kaien jibed with a laugh.

The Shiba man's face hardened dangerously. "What did you say?"

Kaien looked up in a mock pout before turning deathly serious. "I don't know how to break this to you, your sister nearly killed me after all, but I'd rather tell you myself than risk that experience again. I have…all the memories of your older brother."

No pulled punches, that was for sure.

The tick now above Ganju's eye couldn't have been good for his health. "We all know reincarnations don't have any memories! That's what the Nobody system is for!"

"Tell me, do you still sleep with that teddy bear he got you for your third birthday?"

Regardless of the situation, Ichigo still had to suppress a snicker at that information.

"N-N-N-No! Of course not!"

"What about your left eyebrow? The edge hasn't been able to grow back properly since you played with some of the fireworks he was experimenting with." Even though he was trying to be serious, that example was too much for the carefree Kaien. "And good grief did you look funny! You were pure black and your short little hair was shot up like you had been hit by lightning! You cried like a baby until I showed you the new Kidou I had learned to make you feel better, and accidentally blew up Kuu-chan's fireworks shed! Ho man she was mad!!" He was so into it he hadn't even noticed he had exchanged the 'he' for 'I' in his sentences. It was really hard for him to differentiate between the two, because really he was both Kaien Shiba and Kaien Kurosaki.

Ganju laughed, himself forgetting the situation. "Yeah, Sis beat us half to death after that!"

Kaien stopped laughing when he felt his haori's sleeve being pulled, and he looked down to see Kin looking up at him worriedly. "Kaien…"

He sobered up almost immediately and pulled her close. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I just...forget myself." Kin smiled as strongly as she could before squeezing him one last time and letting him go.

Masaki chuckled weakly. "Literally."

Even Tsukiyomi seemed pretty pissed. _**"You're **_**our**_** brother!"**_ She huffed indignantly.

The eldest Kurosaki child smiled and patted her head, causing her face to warp with embarrassed indignation. "I know, Tsuki. You and I look too much alike to even question it!"

She raised her nose into the air with a smug look. _**"You don't look half as good as I do!"**_ Sora turned a light shade of red, and she saw it out of the corner of her eye. Her smile widened.

"Thanks for leaving _me_ out like that," Masaki pouted.

Kaien smirked dangerously and Masaki saw it just in time to realize she couldn't do anything. "Kaien, don't!"

It was already too late, Kaien had lifted her up and pulled her into a bear hug that had her coughing for breath dramatically. "Aww, did my wittle sister feewl weft out? Huh? Huuuh?" The only orange-haired child of Ichigo Kurosaki was now torn between coughing and laughing as she struggled in vain to get away.

His appearance might have changed drastically, but he was still their Kaien.

When he set her down Masaki bent over, trying to catch her lost breath as she grasped her chest in mock pain. "Jeez Kaien, I'm too old for that now! That actually hurts!" While most of it had been in fun, he could tell that she was telling some truth. Her breathing was too off for it to be otherwise.

Kin grinned and pointed to her growing chest. "Sensitive are we?"

Masaki's face almost caught fire.

They were interrupted by someone clearing their throat pointedly, and they looked over to see that Ganju had regained his senses as well, or what little he had in the first place. "So you're Kaien Kurosaki eh? Nice to meet you," he said calmly as he stretched out his hand once again.

Kaien felt pride soar within him, pride from a brother already dead. He reached out and grasped the hand firmly. "Looks like you grew up just fine Ganju. I can't thank you enough for understanding." He let go of the hand and bowed silently, nearly causing Ganju to fall over in shock. "Please treat me well."

The loud man gave him a mighty slap on the back with a hearty laugh. "Don't know about that! You _are_ the son of ol' dandelion-head after all!"

_BAM!!_

And as the fight between Ichigo and Ganju began again, no one noticed the tears trailing down Kuukaku's supposedly sleeping face.

…

The group sat around a large table, eating supper with a friendly atmosphere hanging in the air around them. They were laughing, eating, and bantering like they had known each other for years, even Kenpachi and Kuukaku.

Kin cleared her throat softly and attention was on her seconds later. "We have an announcement to make…"

The looks on everyone's faces clearly said, 'So? Make it already.'

"After everything that's happened while we've been here, we've decided we want to have the wedding when we get back."

Tatsuki nearly choked on her food. "I-It usually takes a bit of planning to pull off a wedding you know!"

Kaien was nonplussed. "We know that, but we're not having it here or at home. Really it doesn't make that much of a difference, because we don't know many Shinigami anyway. We talked it over, and she agreed to have it where we actually know people. We've both been pretty isolated over the past five years, so really the only people that need to know are our friends and family. The whole huge affair like Dad's wedding isn't necessary this time, plus it wouldn't even be possible!" He laughed. "I've got quite a shadow to live up to, in all the worlds!"

Ichigo looked at Kin understandingly. "Thank you. Last time none of them were able to come because of Soul Society's interference. Truthfully, weddings aren't usually done there, but I think we can make an exception in this case…"

The only people who didn't know what was going on were Ganju and Kuukaku.

"Well, a few captains might want to come, but we don't have to worry about them. Everyone knows them there," Tatsuki noted offhandedly.

"Yup, the sooner it's official the better. The time we've spent here just made us all the more sure of that."

It seemed Hueco Mundo would be the stage for its first ever wedding ceremony.

…

**Author's Notes:** Ah, I remember this chapter being so much fun to write, and it was still fun editing too. Thankfully I'm not totally overloaded anymore, so hopefully I'll be able to get more done. Reviews to remind me always help too, LOL!

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and reviews are always appreciated!


	25. Curse Named Love

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**.**

**Curse Named Love**

**..**

The goodbyes were said on good terms, only with the promise that they come back and visit more than once a year naturally. Kenpachi had decided he might as well stay—it would be a waste of time otherwise—and with the baby so close Yachiru had decided, in all her womanly expertise, that the Eleventh Division could survive without its captain and lieutenant for a couple of weeks. Ikkaku would keep everyone in line well enough.

Yumichika wasn't due back for a visit for a little while anyways. Leaving the Eleventh Division, under any terms, hadn't been the easiest for him, but love waited for no man and a change of scenery was essential was that love to get anywhere. As such he was now a reserve member of Ichigo's squad, though technically he was still the fifth seat of the Eleventh Division. He had found a beauty he could, in his own words, 'only compare to his own.' A narcissist he may be, but he was a damn good fighter too.

Back to the topic at hand, Kaien and the others had made their way back to Seireitei by nightfall, and luckily for them their friends weren't stingy enough to wait until morning to ready the Senkaimon. Their visit had extended far past what they had intended already, but had it not been for that there would still be two in mortal peril in the coming years. Thankfully that wasn't the case anymore.

They were all smiling even as they ran out the exit, and since it had been so long since the last trip had been made, Ichigo and Tatsuki had both conveniently forgotten where the end of the Senkaimon usually was.

So, of course, they all ended up grinning…in the middle of the air.

The sudden lack of proper footing so unexpectedly took a few seconds to sink in, even though by that time they were already falling. Ichigo had naturally, instantly flown over to his wife now back in her very _human_ body without hardly any delay, securing their place in the air with his feet planed firmly on the spirit perpetually hanging in the earth's atmosphere. For a second it looked like Tatsuki was rather indignant with his overprotective handling of her, but she was only pulled closer to his hard chest and her body—horrible, traitorous body in her own opinion—instantaneously melted into lovesick goop. She lulled her head over onto his shoulder and he looked down and smiled at her; that same, million-watt smile of his childhood that only she and her children had ever been privy to since.

If that wasn't a boost to her ego, she didn't know what was. Her girls may have him wrapped around their fingers, but she was irrevocably tied around his, even if the same could be said about him.

Unlike Ichigo, the others hadn't been expecting, or even known, how to react to the sudden drop that had instantly disoriented them. Kaien found his bearings first, for reasons even he didn't know, and he immediately tried to reach out to grab those closest him, if not just to flip them upright. He found out very quickly that his hands as they were could only grasp air, but his brain had already taken off instinctively, and before he knew what was happening the tendril-like appendages waiting just under his skin had shot out of his pores. Wrapping around each other into a width that could support most anything with ease, in less than a second each one had grabbed on to all those around him. As he found his footing in the air the tentacles of white rope held firm like real arms and kept those they were carrying in their grip without slacking.

They were only needed for a little while, because everyone there _could_ walk on air, they just hadn't been ready to at the time. As each person straightened themselves out from whatever limb they were currently being supported by, one couldn't help but notice their preoccupation with the inhuman strands holding said limb in place. They watched in morbid curiosity as after they had gained their equilibrium again, the strands wound back into the host body as if by their own will.

"_**Interesting little side-effect you decided to leave out earlier. Any more Hollow powers hidden in there?"**_ Tsukiyomi asked bluntly as she tried to forget the feeling of the rope-like thing that had held her arm. It wasn't for any wrong reason either, in fact it was exactly the opposite. The corded strands of white had been unexpectedly soft on her skin, like the lotion she and Masaki liked to use in the bath. It was firm yet almost liquid, doing nothing abrasive to her arm at all. It was…weird.

Kaien sat down, still in the middle of the air, and crossed his legs while the others decided they might as well sit down too. The run hadn't been easy after all. "From what I can gather from my other memories, Kaien Shiba fought against a Hollow before he was killed, and that Hollow's ability was what allowed the Noveno Espada to have Kaien Shiba's spirit body. The Hollow couldn't really die, it would just return to Hueco Mundo and regenerate, but its main body resided in its hair, and that was what it used to force its way into other spirit bodies and take over, then eating them from the inside out." The faces of those around him scrunched up in disgust, and Kaien winced. However, Kin didn't let that go unnoticed and in apology she shuffled her way over to his side and leaned against him lovingly. She couldn't help but smile when she felt the tension in his body melt away as he relaxed into her as well. The silent thank-you was all she needed to feel warm inside.

"I don't know how many exactly I have, but I know they're there. I can almost feel them under my skin, just waiting for my command. From my experiments using them I found out that I can take control of Hollows, at least, I haven't tested it on anything else, but they can't leave my body so I'm more like a puppeteer than anything else. Another thing I found out is that if they stay in the Hollow too long than I absorb the Hollow, so I'm not really _wanting _to test it on anything else." He sighed and cracked his neck. "What about you Tsuki? Any side-effects from your…completion?"

"Other than the sudden urge to creep us all out with your facial expressions?" Masaki added tauntingly, earning her one of Tsukiyomi's patented glares.

"_**I can't really say for sure. I'm still not used to the increase from eating those modified gikongan pills, so if anything **_**did**_** happen I haven't felt it yet. With those urges gone though, Amaterasu and I have been able to talk a lot easier now. I'd almost count myself normal if I didn't look like this, and the Hierro stuck around too that's for sure."**_

"Heh, well I'm just glad you guys found what it was you needed. I…I was really scared when I found out I was the only one going to live…" Masaki's voice was barely above a whisper, and her eyes glistened in the growing starlight with unshed tears just from the memory.

Tsukiyomi scooted over to her twin and smiled before catching her in a headlock, the last thing the orange-haired girl had been expecting. _**"Like I'd let my little sister get married before me!"**_

Masaki yelped as she struggled to get away. "You're only older by a few minutes!!"

"_**Still older than you!"**_

"Come on girls; let's finish the trek back home. You can rest there if you need to," Ichigo spoke up, and they nearly jumped in surprise. They had almost forgotten their parents were still with them.

"Meh, sounds good to me," Kin affirmed as she stood and cracked her joints.

"Yeah. I really just want to get back into my body and sleep on my own bed," her fiancé said through a tired groan.

Kin couldn't agree more, though she wasn't going to say so vocally. It wasn't so much the bed as it was the company therein.

…

None of them really knew what to expect when Kaien reentered his body, but for some reason they weren't really surprised when the first thing his body did was start shaking like under the throes of a seizure. Before their very eyes his hair—including his eyebrows—lost its profound black and was replaced by the white counterpart that had taken residence over his soul-self's body, the one blue bang right where it belonged. Thankfully, and mostly because it wasn't possible outside the spirit realm, the one thing it was lacking was the hypnotic wave-like illusion that the blue strip usually made. That would be a bit hard to explain.

True to form, when he finally stopped and opened his eyes tiredly, his right eye had already changed to the pale blue they had all come to expect. Tsukiyomi had definitely been right in her earlier evaluation; with his white hair, they looked more alike than ever before. And, like her, his skin hadn't paled to the unnatural alabaster of his other self, another thing to be thankful for.

He groaned as he stood and stretched as the weariness of his soul transferred to his physical body. He didn't bother asking what the looks of those around him were for, he had an idea already, but mostly he didn't care at the moment. He waved his goodnight as he stumbled to his room and they smartly kept their mouths shut when they saw Kin follow him.

It was back to Hueco Mundo tomorrow.

…

For one of the few times since he had come back, Kaien was actually up before her, though he suspected the days of worrying and searching for him had finally taken their toll on her. The pain was still in his chest from that, but it was dull, almost impossible to feel when he looked over and saw her sleeping face, like none of that had ever happened.

He knew what was going to happen when they returned to his home away from home, he had been dreading it for a good long time now, even in his dreams. A good deal of the Arrancars who liked to call themselves his Fraccion were of the female persuasion, and Kaien had noticed more than once that there was an ulterior motive to some of their so-called servitude besides the protection his strength offered. He didn't doubt that he wouldn't have any opponents of the opposite gender as well; not as soon as they got a good look at Kin. He wasn't just being the proud fiancé when he thought she was extremely beautiful, and he knew he wasn't the only one with thoughts like that. Her class offered all too much proof of that.

His heart swelled in his chest as he lay there, content to be the sap he was and stare at her sleeping form, covered in the shirt that she hadn't been able to take with her to Soul Society. Her carefree, childlike innocence as she slept made him feel even worse that he had abandoned her for those days, and it was only thanks to her greatly undeserved love that she had forgiven him so quickly.

She was everything precious, even in her construction. Her hair was the purest of gold, her skin the finest bronze; teeth of unmatched pearl and nails of rarest ivory. He couldn't make a realistic comparison to her heart, it was the most valuable out of all she was, and somehow he, grossly unworthy, had possession of it. The worth of the only thing he could give her back in thanks for such a gift, his own heart, seemed to pale in comparison.

As he did on an unsurprisingly high basis, he pushed his luck. Leaning over as softly as he could as to not disturb her well-deserved sleep, he carefully stole his first kiss of the day from her unsuspecting lips. He pulled away with a gentle smile, and with the same idea in mind, flashed from his bed without the slightest disturbance in the reiatsu around them, or a flicker of his own, as was his usual. He looked back only slightly to see if she had awoken, but she only started mumbling incoherently while grasping out at the side of the bed that had been warm until a few seconds ago.

He sighed. He should have known that even if he didn't disturb a hair on her head, she would instinctively recognize the loss in body heat. It didn't help that he was almost perpetually feverish temperature-wise. He pulled the mangled covers over her body again and she sighed happily as she reveled in the warmth she thought was something—or more accurately some_one_—else. At least she hadn't woken up, she really needed her rest.

Now that that had been taken care of, he grabbed a change of clothes and left the room to one of the bathrooms farther away. It wouldn't be good if he went through all that trouble only to wake her up with running water right after. He had to admit it felt good to be out of his kimono, even if the silk garment Kuukaku had so forcibly told him to keep felt immaculate. He couldn't wait to get back into his simple blue jeans.

His thoughts trailed back to what he was going to do, and he cringed. He couldn't leave early to get it over with before she got there because one: he had promised he wouldn't do that to her again; two: he doubted he would be able to finish in a day if they wanted duels and not a battle royal; and three: he just plain-well didn't want to.

The shower happened in a daze while he thought, and though who he saw in the mirror hadn't been who he had been expecting, it wasn't too big of a shock compared to his soul. The changes only made sense. The body had to be close enough to the soul to be recognizable otherwise the soul would reject the body, he only counted himself lucky his body had been able to make the changes it needed naturally, even if it was a bit disconcerting.

When he thought about how they were going to pull off a wedding in Hueco Mundo, his mind drew a blank. Sure, most of the Vastro-Lorde knew the importance of marriage in the Living World, but there was no paper-trail or annoying laws in Hueco Mundo other than the open acceptance needed of the two parties involved. Families were still rare, even though many Arrancars had long given in to the longing that their new humanesque bodies came with. Many were paired, but children were still a rarity in the realm, with a few exceptions.

Basically all he needed to do was say she was his, fight anyone who didn't like that, and consummate the relationship. Thus, a wedding ceremony then would be something new to them, all of them, himself included. Still, the thought of Kin in a wedding dress was too tempting to refuse.

He only hoped he didn't have to fight too many of the people he had come to call friends in the effort to have the culture's approval. He was on a first name basis with most of his Fraccion, even though he despised calling them that. They were his friends, and if need be they were a division under his leadership should another large outbreak of Adjucha happen. There were trained groups like his under most of the Espada, and his family for that matter, and Soul Society had never really grasped the concept that if Ichigo ever really wanted to, he had an entire army of soldiers who's very weakest could be compared to a lieutenant in Soul Society's rankings. Those of lower rank wouldn't be risked at all.

Aizen wasn't very orderly, and for the most part he just let them all do their own thing as long as the Espada were controlling them properly. For all intents and purposes Ichigo held the same vision, though he was more inclined to have a contingency plan for every scenario that involved a chain of command. He was more of a leader than he gave himself credit for, but then again the white haori he wore made it all too clear that those around him respected his ability, and his position among the very deadliest of Hollows made the same point.

Kaien sighed wearily. He had no doubts in his mind that they would use that training against him if he were to fight them, and though he was considered the Prince, facing however many there was going to be at once was not something he was looking forward to.

_Should those rules even _apply_ to me?_ He wondered offhandedly as he got dressed. _I mean I know I'm the Prince, but technically I'm not an Arrancar…_ He sighed again. _Then again, Souken fought, but Asuka _is_ at least half Arrancar; Kin and I aren't._ It was disputed what exactly he was even in his own mind, because he had never heard of a zanpakutou spirit like him before, but his sisters weren't conventional either.

He knew he was just delaying the obvious, if not the inevitable.

Brooding the entire way, he walked to the kitchen and helped himself to some cereal, trying to think up some reason to fight against friends he had made over five years of hell. He was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't even seem to notice Tsukiyomi or Masaki, who were sitting not two seats away eating their own breakfasts. It had taken a second for them to remember the changes he had gone through. The white hair really looked distinguished, especially with his naturally pale skin tone.

"You wanna stay here for another day? We haven't really had much of a break have we?" Masaki asked amicably as she played with her cereal. She knew what he was probably thinking, both of them did. They had as many friends there as he did, and they knew those friends were probably the first people he was going to have to face, if not just to prove his resolve.

"No use putting it off. We need to get back in time for you guys to get back to school after all," he replied automatically, his responses still on autopilot.

Tsukiyomi sighed dramatically as her face settled into its normal beatific glower. "Would you just quit it already? So what if you might have to fight against guys you've fought and laughed beside? Do you really have it in you to hold back when you know they won't be?? What if they actually wanted you to take them seriously, it's no laughing matter! You lose, your relationship won't be accepted. It's as simple. As. That."

His bowl jostled from the sudden spasm that had crumpled his spoon like paper.

The white-haired young woman had the sense of mind to gulp when she saw that her brother's bi-colored eyes had hardened like two emotionless gemstones, and his face was set in their mother's typical battle scowl. Her words had hit their mark, the one that he hadn't wanted to admit was there. He couldn't afford to lose, there was no other option. He couldn't live without being able to go to what had become his home, nor could he live without her. That left only one viable answer.

Win.

Those sitting beside him could feel the polar shift in the atmosphere, like it recognized the resolution now flowing through him, and their stomachs tightened in unison. This was fear in them right then, they were sure of it. Their bodies were reacting instinctively to the strong presence they were by, even if his reiatsu hadn't left his body.

"Thank you, Tsuki," he said sincerely. "I needed that."

She gulped again, just to be able to answer. "No problem." Her voice still cracked.

Their breakfast was finished in silence, and they both knew as soon as Kin was ready they were leaving.

…

Kin Urahara-Shihouin was a natural at most things, a prodigy spawned from two of the most gifted Shinigami Soul Society had ever seen, so there was very little that could surprise her. However, the pitch black darkness of the Garganta, lit only by the spirit particles she was forcing under her feet and the dim exit in the distance, was one of the exceptions. Watching the portal appear with a wave of her fiancé's hand had been strange enough, but this weird between-world experience was a definite first.

She couldn't help but notice the mood aforementioned fiancé was in either. 'Mood' might not describe it right, but whatever it was it was sending chills down her spine, even though she had almost swooned when he kissed her good morning. _That_ she could definitely get used to.

It had come as a surprise to them all that when Kaien returned to soul form, he wasn't wearing the now-black standards he had been in when he had initially changed; instead the snow white Kimono with black and blue accents that was given to him by Kuukaku once again graced his frame, and only a thin pair of flip-flops were on his pale feet. He looked like he had just come from a hot springs, and his relaxed demeanor fit that description perfectly. In her own personal opinion he looked amazing, so why, even with his apparent mood, did she still have this feeling of dread? He had even slicked his hair back like he usually had it instead of the mop of unruly spikes that hung from his head if he let it down. Everything just seemed so _normal_, even though they were on their way to the realm of the Hollows. Now he was trudging along the perfectly formed path of his own making with as little difficultly as it was taking him to breathe.

Looking back at it now, it was little wonder why she had fallen for the alabaster demigod.

Also, it occurred to her that this was the first time she was going to meet _his_ friends. Soul Society had been new to them all, but the Kurosaki's still knew more people than she did, even if most of those people were captains. She had isolated herself for the better part of those five years, pushing both herself and her parents to the limit of their expertise. He however, had had who-knew-how-many people to help him along, and according to Asuka, the better part of those people were female.

Unwittingly, her jealousy spiked warningly and she found a growl rising in her throat. If she remembered the customs of Hueco Mundo right, there may be more than a few challengers to their relationship, even if they had already bonded themselves together deeper than any proclamation, ceremony, or piece of paper could ever declare. Shaking herself away from those thoughts, she noticed they were almost to the light at the end.

"Stay close to me."

The ethereal voice of her lover wafted through the silence around them with careful authority. She knew she would never tire of hearing him speak anymore, not when it was like listening to water caress over the smooth rocks in a riverbank. She wet her lips and nodded hastily. This time they were going into his territory, so she knew she should listen to what he said more carefully than she would normally. As it was now he wasn't just speaking to her as her lover and fiancé, but also as a governing force that was returning to its domain.

"Where…where will we show up?" she asked, unable to control her curiosity any longer.

She saw the briefest grin sly across his features. "My room. Most of my friends are housed around my general area like all of the other Fraccion in Las Noches, even though I told them they didn't need to. The more power I gained, the more followers too. It was pretty annoying for the longest time to tell you the truth." He seemed positively baffled as to why too, which almost made her groan.

Of course, it probably hadn't occurred to him that part of his gaining power was because he was training; in other words, using time. Getting older. And as he got older, he grew more masculine. He naturally attracted people to him, she knew that better than anyone. "D-Do tell…" she replied hesitantly. Sometimes he could seem so mature she felt like a child, and made her forget he was usually more naïve than anyone she had ever met. She wasn't about to let the truth ruin that glorious naivety, especially when it came to the romantic realm. He was _hers_. She smiled smugly.

Inwardly, Kaien frowned and tried to stop his heart from hurting. He hated lying to her, and he could see that she had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. After hanging around girls for most of his life, he would have had to be a whole different kind of dense to not clue in to what _some_ of the female emotions around him were. He knew he was dense and naïve, he had known that for a long time, but even _he_ saw some things. Sometimes it came in handy though, like right then for instance.

When they broke through the exit she gasped at the…cleanliness of it all. She had expected darkness and horror, but the walls were clean and cut expertly into shape, and the best she could equate it to was a white darkness, as odd as that seemed. It held an unnatural feeling around it, and she could almost taste the high density reishi hovering in the air. The room itself was scarcely decorated, just furniture and other essentials if guests were invited, but other than that it didn't really look…lived in.

_This had been _his_?_ She thought unbelievingly.

Kaien seemed to recognize the look on her face. "Uh…yeah…didn't really spend a whole lot of time here other than sleeping. When I was down from my aftereffect I was shuffled through my Fraccion's rooms. They didn't want to risk anything, where my room is is well known, even if no Vastro-Lorde in their right mind would try anything. Pretty easy to just go in and…" He made a cutting gesture across his neck, and the sarcastic motion made Kin's stomach turn.

Totally helpless among countless Hollows, what did that feel like?

Honestly, she didn't want to know, or find out, anytime soon.

It seemed that they weren't the only ones looking for reiatsu around their vicinity, because not five minutes after they had landed in his room, the door had been kicked open violently. "Stay where you are, intruder! How did you get into Kaien's room!?"

The threat had been issued from a voice as silken as it was commanding, and when the dust cleared from the sudden near-destruction of the door, it was a woman who came into view. Kin tried not to gasp. The woman was nothing short of beautiful, a model with the spirit of a warrior. She held her sword expertly in front of her and from what she could see, her mask fragment covered her right eyebrow and traced down the back of her jaw. She had striking emerald eyes and uncharacteristic bright red hair, pulled smoothly behind her ears and scalp into flame-like spikes behind her head; in fact, it was almost identical to the way Kaien usually did his hair, as it was right now. It was all attached to a figure more suited to a dancer than a soldier, and that was confirmed in the way she held herself. She was visibly graceful, even in angry movements.

For some reason, Kin gulped. If this was an example of what Kaien had been around for five years…. What had Kaien seen in her, with only his memories as a child, to come back to her when he had been around people like _this_ for half a decade. Well, at least there was something to the saying that guys didn't always go on looks.

She looked around for her voice. "Uh…um…I was brought here," she said at last. Even to her own ears, it sounded pathetic. Obviously the Arrancar thought the same, because her grip tightened on her sword.

"Well, this is what happens when no-one can feel my reiatsu I guess. Hey, Asa, been keeping everyone in line for me?"

The redheaded sprite froze when the enchanting voice with all the worry of a blade of grass hit her ears, and she looked past the bronze woman in front of her to the ashen man standing nonchalantly at her side. Her eyes were wide as she took in the appearance, trying to fit them to those of her memories, if only as a base. He no longer had a Hollow hole, and his skin and hair had changed color completely, but it wasn't hard to make the connection, especially to someone that had been around him for a long time. For a good while she stood there, frozen. Finally, her mouth moved again. "K…Kaien? Is that really you?"

He smiled at her, and Kin fought back the jealousy burning against her insides like acid when she saw what only another woman could see rise in the Arrancar apparently named Asa. She _adored_ him, that much was certain. She had to admit though, she was very calm and poised throughout it all, but she had been trained well by her mother and father to see things normal people didn't. "You could call me Kaien two-point-oh if you want," he joked lightly, but even then, the shivers Kin had felt going from the top of her head to the base of her spine since that morning didn't abate. "I'm back."

For a second Asa looked absolutely overjoyed, but then her expression darkened. "If you came back…that must mean…" Her now cold, calculating eyes turned back to Kin with new scrutiny openly displayed. She gave her a good look up, then down, and _harrumphed_ dismissively. Kin's skin burned as she fought to keep her anger in check. "You must be Kin, right?"

Said female was momentarily stunned. She hadn't known he had been that open about his reasons to train, or about his reason to return. "That'd be me!" she replied, trying to sound as confident as she could. He was _hers_, and she knew if she wanted to keep him she was going to have to make sure that was known. She hadn't known she could be so jealous, and she wondered what Kaien was feeling about this whole situation.

There was a question burning in those piercing green irises, and she knew it. Asuka had been back for a while now, so she couldn't help but wonder if she had kept her mouth shut or not about how far they had gone. Kaien sighed exaggeratedly. "Always the melodrama. Story of my life," he breathed in near-exasperation. He tugged his haori to the side, and Kin nearly turned purple when she saw that her marks from their 'make up' hadn't healed on his soul yet either. "Good enough for you?"

The Shihouin heir felt a small amount of pity at the hurt that entered the Arrancar's eyes as she saw the indisputable proof of what she had feared. "You came back to fight, didn't you?" Her raw voice was small, marked by sadness.

Kin straightened. "If I have to."

"No!" She gasped in surprise at his sudden and vehement response to her answer. Hadn't the question been directed at her? His fierce gaze left nothing to that. "This is my world. If we were in the Living World we could be married in fifteen minutes if we wanted to, but here it's different, and it's because of me that we have to do this. I won't put you in any more danger than I have to, and I'll fight anyone who doesn't agree with us, even if they're friends."

Her breath was stolen yet again. _That_ had been what he was so resolute about, that had been why he looked so serious when she had woken up! He knew he was going to have to fight to have her accepted, and he was even willing to fight against those who had been with him over five years of training if he had to.

Asa suddenly looked ten times what she actually looked, her posture low and eyes heavy as she absorbed what he meant. "You really love her, don't you?"

Not even Kin's nerves could find it in themselves to be irritated when Kaien walked over and pulled her gently against his body. She knew Arrancars could cry, and this one looked awfully close. More so than that even was the surprise at seeing how _short_ the fairy actually was. Compared to Kaien a lot of people came up looking small, but Asa looked like a middle-schooler in comparison. A middle-schooler perfectly proportioned to that of a curvaceous, toned supermodel, but still a middle-schooler.

"I'm sorry, Asa, hopefully after all this is over we can get back to normal. I can't live without her."

Kin's entire body flooded with warmth as she heard that. He was hurting, but he knew where his priorities were. She could see the hesitancy in Asa's arms as they moved to hold the man comforting her, and when she finally did she nearly melted into him with a feminine sigh that belied her crisp and fiery looks. Now, Kin would be lying if she said she didn't want to throw some kind of jealous fit, but for some reason she knew this was important, if not just as a final goodbye of sorts to the hope she had been holding on to.

She pulled away sooner than Kin would have thought, and surprisingly her eyes were still dry, just a little sad. She was truly stronger than she looked. "I know it will, Kaien. I'll make sure it happens."

He sighed and gave her a warm, lopsided grin. "Only after you beat the living tar out of me, right?"

She mimicked his grin, and it looked far more sensual on her face. "Of course." She went down onto one knee and bowed lowly. "Your second-in-command recognizes your claim and the willingness to fight. I shall spread the word."

Just like that, the fire-haired pixie had disappeared.

Kin nearly choked. That frail-looking dancer was Kaien's _second-in-command?_

This might not be as easy as she thought.

She should have known that since this was the one place most of their friends were, and since Sora had been specifically requested to break into Soul Society, there may just have been a little bit of worrying going on. It shouldn't have come as a surprise then that once Asa's reiatsu was gone from the room with the previously unknown reiatsu in it, the next person bursting through those doors would be none other than Asuka, Souken not far behind no doubt. At least they knew what _her_ reiatsu felt like.

Why Kin was shocked then was a mystery for the ages, but she wasn't given enough attention to dwell on it. Instead, the blue-haired woman flew into the only male presence in the room with feline precision without even checking if he was the one she was looking for. The force behind her unexpected tackle propelled them right onto his bed with her on top of him.

"Kaien!!!" she cried happily. "Are you alright?! Did someone get hurt!?! Why was only Sora allowed to go help!!!!???" The last question had the most emotion behind it, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.

It was probably the most delayed reaction in the history of the world, but she finally _looked_ at who she had tackled.

The amused alabaster face looking back at her with bi-colored eyes and a bright, flaming tattoo over his left shocked her into complete stillness, and it was only then that she felt the intense killing aura radiating from behind them. Her head could only move in jerky motions to look behind her, because her spine was trying everything it could to make it _not_ move. When she saw at last, she could have sworn Kaien's malevolent black reiatsu had decided Kin would make a decent host too, and the way her eyebrow was twitching couldn't have been healthy. She quickly turned back to Kaien's—still—amused expression. "Asa was just here, wasn't she?"

He smiled at her, _too_ sweetly, and she felt her stomach drop. _Shit._ Of all the first impressions Asuka was hoping Kin would get from his Fraccion, his second-in-command was the one she _didn't_ want. A woman's jealousy was a terrible thing, and Asa had never been too subtle about her attraction. Paradoxically, she was also the one with the most restraint and emotional control, so though she openly displayed what she was thinking and feeling most of the time, she was also tactful and sure, careful not to step on too many toes. That wasn't saying anything about the fact that if she _did_ step on toes—metaphorically speaking—she was usually the only one to walk away from the ensuing encounter.

"If…if y-you weren't m-married…I'd…I t-think I'd k-kill you right there…" Kin's voice was positively _shaking_ in rage, and Asuka's animal instinct of self-preservation had her away from Kaien as fast as she possibly could, which coincidentally ran her right into her husband's arms as he walked casually through the doors.

Like his usual, calm self, he looked down at his wife with a raised eyebrow before taking inventory of the room she had been trying to run out of. He all but completely ignored the fuming woman in the middle of the room, but when his eyes fell on Kaien his mother's nature took over instinctively and any words he might have wanted to say were instantly dead in his throat.

Kaien sighed as he picked himself up off his bed and straightened out his yukata-like kimono. "It's really gonna be a pain to explain this to people who weren't there to see it firsthand, isn't it?" The question may or may not have been directed at Kin, because if it was she was still too busy seething to care to answer. He looked over and saw both Asuka and Souken still staring openly at him. He smiled proudly. "So, what'dya think?"

Souken was the first to answer, likely because no Ishida was ever one to stay speechless at the hand of a Kurosaki for too long. "I…I think I'm more surprised at your voice than anything else…" That was saying something, for the physical changes had barely been processed before he had opened his mouth.

"What happened?" Asuka's voice was full of nothing but awestruck wonder, unable to keep her eyes at any one place on his body at a time as she tried to digest the changes that had happened in her closest friend.

The silence that dragged from that question left the two in confusion, and Kin had been knocked out of her anger at the look that overcame her fiancé's face. She was now meshed against his front, embracing the heartsick pieces of a partner left knowing he was living because a dear friend had essentially died. Asuka too had stopped short when her eyes at last fell on his, and the pain in the now separately colored irises struck her to her core. This wasn't any minor pain she saw, this was something she could only equate to losing a loved one right in front of their eyes.

_No…who could he have lost?_ She thought confusedly. His family was all safe and sound, and the only real friend he had left in the Living World was Kin, the rest of their gang had all made the all but permanent transition to the spirit realm. No Arrancar was allowed in Soul Society, so what was the deal? Her brain hurt from the amount of energy she was using in such a short time on the question. She just couldn't figure it out. In the silence, they had all decided it would be better if they sat, just to make the wait more bearable.

It couldn't have been that long since words entered the air, but when Kaien spoke next it was like it had been forever. "My…zanpakutou nature hadn't been perfected when I was born…so my Hollow blood was allowed more power than it should have had." The quiet tone emphasized the otherworldly aspect of his new voice, even if the pain was nearly audible enough already. He took another deep breath to steady himself. "It would…it would have eventually destroyed me, within the next year or so to be exact."

The harsh inhalations from that were from both Asuka _and_ Souken this time.

Even with the depressed atmosphere he was exuding, Kaien gave a soft chuckle at the look on his friends' faces. "She knew that. When she came back to me a hole I never thought could be filled disappeared, but it wasn't what I needed, even if I hadn't known what I needed at the time." The gears in their heads were moving, just not there yet. "It took a situation none of us had anticipated for her to decide, and with God as my witness if I had known I would have waited to the last possible second of however many years I had left before I would have asked her to make it." Kin's eyes mimicked his now, and the silence this time was far more suffocating.

"Who…? What…?" The rasps were the only things Asuka was able to make at this point.

Kaien's eyes turned tender and he put his hand over his heart softly, like by touching that part of himself he was touching someone else. "Two lifetimes and all I ever did was fail her, and she still blamed herself. Nejibana merged with me to save my life. Hence the changes; my blood, her power, and everything else, completely under my control for the first time ever."

While part of them was wondering how a teenager had actually managed to use 'hence' in a workable sentence, the emotional impact of his words hit them where he was hurting.

"I'm…wow…I'm sorry." It was a gross understatement on Asuka's part. She couldn't imagine life without her zanpakutou, but then again an Arrancar's sword was their entire Hollow power sealed and condensed, so it couldn't be destroyed without the Arrancar being destroyed also.

He chuckled in pain. "Even though I know that already and I've spent three entire days to get to that, it still hurts to say it out loud. Stupid, isn't it?"

_SLAP!_

Kaien cheek stung from the force of Asuka's blow, even with his Hierro, and she grabbed his head to look into her eyes. It was only thanks to Kin's frozen astonishment at the previous action that she was able to do so.

"Kaien…don't you ever say that again." Her voice was commanding, but at the same time it was gentle, holding the same pain within it that he felt in his heart. "We've lost people we cared for in battle before, now tell me, have you ever forgotten them?" She didn't need him to answer vocally, she knew. "Neither have I," she whispered gently. "This is no different, in fact this is even more important. Face it Kaien, you loved her, you loved her like only you could, and she loved you. It's not like with Kin, that goes without saying, but you both loved each other more than family. I don't have that kind of zanpakutou, so I can't relate, but I can imagine it. You don't need to forget her Kaien; remember her, remember her every day. Don't ever be embarrassed to say that talking about it hurts, and don't ever say that remembering it is stupid. As long as you live happily, she'll rest in peace. Understand?"

He smiled nostalgically. He had heard those words before; he had come to the same conclusion. "Yeah, yeah I understand perfectly." He was going to live happily, he would make sure of it.

Maybe it had been the whole unexpected nature of the situation before and the talking since then, but for the first time Asuka sensed the overall resolution, the killing malice that seemingly came from nowhere and sent chills through to the deepest parts of her marrow. When she looked at his eyes again they were hard, and she knew where it was from.

"Come on Kin, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get planning." He stood and offered her his hand, and without a second glance they were walking out the door.

Asuka and Souken barely had time to shake themselves out of the trance they had fallen into before they were gone. "Get what over with!?" she called out frantically.

Kaien turned and grinned darkly. "The fight for my happily ever after."

Asuka's throat went dry just in time for them to disappear.

She knew better than anyone that it wasn't going to be an easy battle. He was the _Prince_, for goodness sakes! Out of everyone in Hueco Mundo, he would be fought over more than anyone. The Arrancar women were not nearly as placid as their human counterparts. His sisters might be a close second, but most of the men would challenge that just for something to do, and both Tsukiyomi and Masaki had a respect among the Arrancar women that was far beyond their years. Only time would tell.

This was going to be an interesting show, and she found herself wondering how many Fraccion Kaien would have left after this little fiasco.

…

He had brought them to a large auditorium-like structure, and as the light of the moon cast the white entrails of the building into an eerie luminescence, they had stayed and waited as the Arrancars gathered, seeking out the unknown reiatsu of the Soul Reaper that had been brought to their realm.

Kin was really starting to enjoy the looks Kaien was receiving when they figured out it was actually him under the changes that had taken place, and the more that came the more Kin didn't want him to fight alone. She had once heard that ten Vastro-Lorde of completely human appearance would mean the absolute destruction of Soul Society, and there was far, far more than just ten, or even twenty, that showed up. While many were in varying stages of Arrancarism, there was a good deal of them that looked no different from any regular human she had ever met, except for the small mask fragment somewhere on their face and the hole usually hidden on their person. There were women _and_ men, though she supposed they were just there to see what kind of woman had caught the eye of the Prince.

It still disconcerted her to no end that he was technically royalty, but if she was going on technicalities then she was royalty too, and not just because she was going to be his wife. Her mother was the princess of the Shihouin dynasty, and as her daughter she held that heritage in her blood as well.

Every eye in the place was on them, she didn't need any extra senses to feel that, and it seemed that Asuka had been right, there was going to be a ton of females challenging this relationship. However, she could tell the difference between the ones that hated him being in a relationship period to the ones that honestly had feelings for him. She could see it because she knew their eyes, she had seen them every time she had looked in the mirror during his five year absence. It was a sad but very real reality that the more bestial ones were just jealous, whereas their humanoid counterparts were usually the ones most hurt by his revelation. There were a few exceptions, but not many.

Thankfully, the ones that she could see the hurt emotions in were still few and far between, but considering the hundred or more that had shown up, that was still too many for her liking.

She leaned into his side further and whispered, "Just how many Fraccion do you have?"

He thought about that for a second. "Last I checked…two-hundred and nine. When it comes to Espada class, or more accurately Privaron Espada, the Tres Cifras, they're at a one-to-three ratio with the Gillian, or more beastlike Arrancars."

Kin gulped. Even _one_ three-digit Arrancar, or worse, the ones that might have actually been in contention for an Espada position—were Aizen's system still in place—to every three weaker Arrancar, still meant Kaien had a whole heck of a lot of power under his command.

She could only gulp again. He had an entire _division_, and from the looks of things, most of it had shown up for his announcement and battle. Her back stiffened when she heard him clear his throat loudly, and in a booming voice that resounded throughout the center he spoke. "I, Kaien Kurosaki, have claimed the Soul Reaper Kin Urahara-Shihouin! Anyone that wants to challenge this claim can stay here, those who don't can either leave or watch, though it might be dangerous to watch. I don't want to fight any of you, I've met all of you at one point or another, and we've fought many times together. Those who aren't of my squad, I may not know you, or maybe I do, but I still don't want to fight any of my friends. You've been with me for five years, from the time I didn't know how to hold a sword to the time you decided to fight under me, and I can understand if you want to fight just to get rid of your frustration. I know I deserve it."

That was when Kin felt it, the tap slowly being opened. It started as a slow leak, until like the nozzle had been destroyed his reiatsu darkened the atmosphere around them and crushed down on everyone present, the malicious intent exponentially greater thanks to the love and determination merged into that killing resolve. There had only been a few in the room to ever feel his reiatsu firsthand, and even less to feel it as it was right then. Kin winced in pity as many of the more bestial types fell to the ground, and even the more humanoid Fraccion were either on their knees or struggling to stay upright. She was glad he had enough control to spare her from its effects, because even Asa, in all her prideful puniness, was sweating profusely in fear, though she never once put a knee to the ground.

Like a match extinguishing, Kaien snuffed his reiatsu out and let everyone breathe again. He had no desire to fight against any of them, and he knew a display first would hinder those with less-than-righteous motives to fight. It all depended on strength, and he was going to make sure he had enough to make the job easier. Losing Kin now was not an option.

To Kin's great surprise, when many of the Arrancars picked themselves up off the ground or swept the sweat from their skin, there was no hatred in their eyes, instead there was a deep and profound sense of respect. She guessed that even though they had fought beside him before, that he always had his reiatsu hidden had become one of the few complaints against him. If he was strong, he was expected to show it. Now he just had, in no uncertain terms.

"I challenge you!"

The powerful voice echoed in the large auditorium, and it was to no-one's surprise that it had been Asa to announce her contention first. For such a small body, she had a deep and sensual voice that made her figure really stand out.

One by one a chorus of voices rose up in agreement, and by the time everyone had left that didn't want to fight, it was most of the full-blown Vastro-Lorde that were still there, even a few of the males, though that was probably because they wanted to fight his newfound power.

Kin's mind was full of only a few words at that moment, and most of them were four-lettered.

The damning sound of steel being unsheathed lit up the ensuing silence in a rhapsody of death that had Kin's stomach twisting, and from the stoic look on her lover's face she couldn't tell if he was worried or not. She didn't know if he had been cut by all of his Fraccion's swords yet or not, and that made it all the worse.

His hands rose, and everyone present tensed in anticipation, until with frightening clarity they watched as he removed his haori and threw it to the side, revealing the perfectly healthy alabaster Hierro it had been covering. The silver tattoos of his arm sparkled in the moonlight, and with a smile that everyone saw, he turned his back to them and smiled over his shoulder. "No need to beat yourself up anymore Asa, come at me with all your strength."

It took a moment for Kin to realize what he meant, and it was only when she saw the thin line of water leaking from one of Asa's eyes as she smiled in relief did she know. His back had healed of the giant scar that had previously run along it. In some twisted way it made sense, his second-in-command would have been the only one capable of inflicting that kind of injury on him.

He turned back and held out his hand, where water starting appearing out of nowhere and twisted into a recognizable shape, a long crystalline trident with a white tassel. It had once been blue, but she could only guess it was because of his now perpetual White Transformation-like state. Instantly every Arrancar was on guard, and Kin was entranced as he straightened his posture proudly and like dancers, he and Nejibana were flowing together, she spinning around his wrist like it was second nature. "Well come on, bring it!"

And like a starting gun had been shot, everything sprung into motion at once.

She was rooted to the spot as the Arrancars jumped at him, and from where she was it was like watching a tidal wave of white and black moving with deadly aim at the only man she had ever loved. The wave hit, and when it did an _actual _wave blew back the center as Kaien swung Nejibana out in a long arc towards them.

The speed of the battle itself was chaos, and chaos could be the only word that could describe the battle. Thanks to the unusual tall stance that made him a very small target, along with the inhumanly quick redirects of the trident thanks to the spinning axis, it was a battle of one hit at a time. They flew at him like darting hornets and with a dodge or a parry he sent them to the back of the line as more took their place and tried their luck at hitting.

At first glance it would seem that a battle of such overwhelming odds was a huge disadvantage, but at closer inspection it actually made Kaien's job easier, as it made starting a combo all but impossible for them and an innumerable combo for him all but impossible _not_ to do. He could flow from one strike to the next without even flinching because no matter where he swung he was going to stop something, and the spinning motion thwarted any attacks he might not have seen easily.

Suddenly he saw the glint of metal shine ominously, and it was aimed right at his feet. In this situation he couldn't do anything, and his body reacted on instinct. He jumped. As soon as he did he knew he had fallen for a trap, and Asa's smirk as she flipped to her feet after sliding at his made that all too clear. He needed footing, and in the jump he had none.

They were planning; it wasn't just mindless attacks anymore, they were coordinating against him. The kick from behind caught him unaware and he was shot down to the masses below, where Asa grinned before leaping up and landing a soccer kick she could have only learned from Karin at his side, propelling him faster into a spin that ultimately saved his life, because the swords swung where his head had once been seconds earlier zipped harmlessly by his ear. He didn't know if she had planned that or not, but he was glad she had done it, even if his side burned in protest.

He knew against these odds if he stayed like this too long it would cost him, so with another spin his white tendrils had shot out of his arms and whipped around two unsuspecting Arrancar, throwing them off into the roof and stopped his uncontrollable flight.

The entire battle slowed as the unexpected appendages heralded a difference none of them had ever faced before, and even Asa's eyes were wide. Once again they all surprised her, and instead of being afraid or any _normal_ reaction like that, it was exactly the opposite. It would seem his transformation into a more Hollow state made them more overjoyed than ever.

And it brought on the worst possible thing. They _all_ released their zanpakutous.

There was no more coordination, this was now a battle of pure unadulterated power. The reiatsu was so thick in the air he could almost reach out and bite a chunk of it off, and his body was certainly starting to feel the pressure. The wave began anew, and this time he almost started to panic. This was more power than he had ever faced in his entire life; seemingly countless Espada-class Arrancars in complete Resurrecion all aimed at him. Maybe showing them this power hadn't been the brightest thing to do.

He was so caught up in the oncoming wave, that none of them noticed the unsheathing of another sword until the reiatsu crashed into the air with theirs. He knew whose it was, but he wasn't prepared for the hundreds of glistening crystals to fly in front of him like a wall of spikes, crackling with otherworldly energy.

"Hadou Thirty-One: Red Flame Cannon!"

That wave burst in every effort to get away when they saw that that powerful spell was coming from each and every one of the crystal feathers floating innumerably in front of them, and the ensuing explosion blasted a huge hole in the wall on the far end of where they had once been.

Kin jumped in front of him, the blue lightning he knew all too well sparking chaotically from her armored back, the white armor over her torso. She turned to glare at him, and he sweated more from that glare than he had at the horde of enemies. "You can be the overly-chivalrous, sappy idiot all you want when this is over! You're out of you frick'n mind if you think I'm letting you fight this battle alone! They challenge _you_, they challenge _me!_"

For a second, Kaien stood there, stunned, and even though he wanted to protest, she had a point; and besides, he doubted he would be able to stop her even if he wanted to. She grinned when she saw the decision already reflected in his eyes, and before who-knows-how-many Vastro-Lorde, she strode over and brazenly kissed him.

His lips tingled and he could feel his hair spiking more than usual from the electric Kidou passing from her body to his. God it was indescribable. The light, the emotion, the plain _power_ in general flowing off her body, and it was all naught as their lips pressed against each other in passion. His Hierro offered almost no protection from this close, and it was like all she was touching were nerves. Even with the situation he knew they were both in, he simply wanted _more_. When she pulled away this time it was _his_ turn to be dazed, and as a final reminder, and a possible hint that even the energy around her didn't want to let him go, one last spark jumped between their lips as the gap widened.

"Holy shit…" he rasped as he tried to stable his spinning eyes.

Kin smirked in self-satisfaction as her ego inflated. "I don't know why only one gets to fight. The way I see it is we're a package deal, and if they think they can beat up on my lover while I just stand there playing in the sand they've got another thing coming! Preferably _this!_" She shot her palm over at one of the clumps of Arrancars—who were trying to figure out what was safe to do or not in the face of the new weapons of which their abilities were unknown—and the Kidou energy of Shunkou zapped out angrily at them, forcing yet another retreat. "Anyone got a problem with that!?!!"

When no one answered, she grinned darkly.

Kaien chuckled softly. She really was like her mother, never one to do what others told her to do.

Asa floated to the ground with soft _flaps_ of her leathery wings, and no one noticed the cracks in the granite floor when she landed, even as softly as she had. Her emerald green eyes now had serpentine pupils, and the vertical green slits looked at her approvingly. She had a long reptilian tail that was layered with spikes, and her hands and feet now bore long claws that looked as sharp as they truly were. Her mask had replaced itself over to her ears, and they went from her temples, up over her ears to her hair, where they branched off into flame-like spikes seemingly holding her short, spiky hair in place. She grinned at her, and Kin saw she had fangs now too. "Seems like I have to give you some credit, Blondie. I might have beaten you up just for the hell of it if you hadn't done anything." With each word, sparks of flame came from her mouth, but Asa paid it no mind, like it was supposed to happen.

The redhead was a _dragon_. Literally.

"Save it; all that credit went to sitting out as long as I did in the first place."

That evoked the first somewhat friendly grin Kin had ever received from the female second-in-command. "Is that so? Well then, bring it, Blondie!"

Kin just grinned at her in response, and the sickly-sweet gesture made Asa's stomach tighten in—if she hadn't felt it firsthand she wouldn't have believed it—_fear_. Her eyes widened when, when Kin moved to attack, Kaien did too without any prompting. She instantly steeled herself for the oncoming assault, only to be passed by without a second glance. "Huh…?"

What she saw when she turned around froze her blood in its fiery veins.

The army around them was getting slowly but thoroughly dismantled, or decimated, if she had to pick the more realistic word. The synchronization wasn't anything like she had seen with Masaki and Ikki, but it was far more disturbing. She had been his highest subordinate and friend for a good four years, and a helpful tutor-babysitter before that when his parents trusted his education to an Arrancar outside the original Espada, yet she had never been able to move with him on a level so…intimate. They weren't in perfect synch like the youngest Kurosaki and her other, but they moved in a way that complimented the partner, where the raw _emotion_ the chemistry between them created was almost a palpable entity.

The draconic woman quickly found the blonde's greatest asset to be her speed, and what was worse was she had a great deal of strength too, so she wasn't lacking in one area because of an abundance of the other. Asa couldn't complain about her own abilities, but maybe it was the way the woman she was watching fought, so happily, so resolute, so absolutely sure the person she was fighting with wouldn't let her down. It hurt just to look at them, to see that even after so many years away from her, they could fight together in a way that matched and even pronounced the strengths they both had. They were an angel and demon, ebony and ivory in every sense of the word. The one one would initially suppose to be light used darkness as his ragged wings, and the one that would be assumed to be dark used bright light as hers. It was like watching two paradoxes move in complete compliment of the other, the supposed angel using demonic power the same way the would-be demon made use of the magical energies only evocable by their sworn enemies.

There was no Hollow or Soul Reaper there, just love.

They were fighting the pinnacle of the Hollow form, and yet their faces were only slightly worried, barely even that in the dark-skinned woman's case. It made Asa so furious she couldn't even describe it. Kaien had left one of the strongest beings outside of his parents, and he had come back even stronger than he had left, all because of _her_. It had been her involvement in his life that had prompted those changes, she was sure of it. Before, his hidden power had been cause for speculation and fear, the even more hidden Hollow powers under that more so. He had been looked up to and lusted after, loved by more than he could even name likely, but this Kaien that had come back seemed to command attention with his very _presence_. His ashen pallor and seemingly magical attributes drew things to him, held them in its grip with an iron hold that they didn't even want to get out of, and he had only been back for a couple of hours!

Yet he was fighting for _her_; it was because of _her_. He clearly didn't have a grip on his Hollow powers, but the tendrils were still a threat that Asa wasn't about to ignore. She would bide her time, there was still plenty of threat there to the two fighting for their chance to love, and she knew she could hurt one of them, even if it was the last thing she wanted to do. Her pride wouldn't let her do otherwise.

Still she watched, and from the distance she was at seeing any wounds on the contenders was difficult. However, her heightened senses made seeing the red soaking into the pristine white of Kaien's hakama from the cuts in his flesh rather easy. He wasn't getting away from this encounter unscathed, but he didn't even pay attention to the wounds, just like he always did. Right then he was a man possessed, and it didn't matter that he was getting hurt as long as he made it to his goal.

Yet even then he was so soft. Every fighter that had faced him was on the ground, writhing in pain, but still alive. He wasn't purifying anyone, but he wasn't naïve enough to foolishly hold back and risk getting both himself and his lover killed. She could tell the difference between the ones he had taken down and the ones _she_ had, because while hers were incapacitated in a many ways, there was usually charred Hierro from the force of her Kidou and wounds far greater than necessary, whereas his were bloody from precision strikes that left them immobile.

Her eyes were brought back to them, the blurs moving magnificently through the night-laden sky, where crumbling pieces of roof let in even more moonlight for their battle. The red feathers were flying around like knives propelled by some kind of telekinetic force, and it wasn't hard to see who was controlling them, from the hand movements that matched their motions perfectly. Asa laughed quietly; she knew she could avoid that now. Even she heard the sickening crack as Kin brought her foot down on the collarbone of the current Arrancar she was fighting, and before her eyes even had time to roll back in her head, the unconscious body had flown to the ground and broke even more of the granite-like stone of the floor.

That was when she noticed something odd. Kin barely had a scratch on her. There was the odd wound here or there, but nothing more than a flesh wound. She didn't even have Hierro, it shouldn't have been possible. Her answer came in the form of the latest foe launching herself at Kin's unprotected—and unknowing—back. Without even halting his movements, Kaien had danced behind Kin and spun her in his arms, propelling her gracefully into the opponent she was currently fighting, leaving her none the wiser to the fact that the claws that had been directed at her back had torn into his. She even _smiled_ at him gratefully, like she thought it was part of his whole plan!

Asa could feel the blood running down her fingers, from where her talons were biting into her palms in their fury.

The next time she came to her senses, she was the only one left, and Kin was smiling at her smugly with her crimson wings folded behind her. Kaien was beside her, still half-naked, looking ten-times worse than she did, but his bi-colored eyes were as bright as when they had started. He had a sword in his hand too, just as white as the others he had conjured, which meant after this was all over he was going to be down for the count for a while. She could see the burnt skin of his shoulders from where she was standing too, his Cero technique was never meant to be used over extended periods of time. Not even Arrancar Hierro was completely invulnerable to the overwhelming energies of Cero. She knew it would heal, but she was still picked that he had gone so far for _her_.

"So, not so bad eh?" the busty blonde called out snidely. She could practically _taste_ the pride in her voice.

Her emerald eyes blazed. "I'd have more respect for you if you were as beat up as Kaien." She saw her flinch. _So it hadn't gone unnoticed after all._

"The day I let her get hurt when I could've prevented it is the day Lucifer dies of frostbite and pneumonia," Kaien said simply, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Once again, Asa felt her heart—or what passed for a heart, she didn't know what Hollows had—tighten in her chest.

Crushing those feelings underfoot, Asa merely shrugged. "Saving me for last wasn't the smartest thing you've ever done." She noticed the way Kin winced as she saw the bursts of flame that always accompanied her words.

"I always thought dragons were larger," she taunted, but Asa had a lot of experience with that, and smiled. Kaien knew her strength, _he_ wasn't about to underestimate her.

"Why don't you punch me and find out? I may be short, but I'm not weak."

The instant the sentence was finished she felt a bone-crushing impact hit her in the shoulder, and to her surprise it actually pushed her. A few inches that is. However, Asa had to respect that; it was the furthest she'd ever been pushed outside the royalty and Espada, and the Kidou behind it was no joke. It was only thanks to her willpower that she was able to keep from crying out, if she did that the whole intimidation factor would be eliminated.

Kin was staring at her with wide eyes; she had never met anyone able to take a punch enforced by Shunkou without flying off into the distance, other than another Shunkou user of course.

"H-How…?"

The emerald irises in front of her sparkled dangerously. "Dragons are known for a few things, their breath and size for instance. Have you ever thought of the _weight_ that must come with that giant size?" The recognition sparked faster than she would have thought in the blonde's eyes, but by that time she had already pulled back her fist and was putting all of her impressive weight into her momentum.

"Santen Kesshun, I Reject!" Kaien shouted.

Just before she hit Kin in the face, a white shield had formed between them and stopped the blow in its tracks, even though the force could be felt from the huge impact of air that had blown the dust around them into disarray. Needless to say, the shield cracked and broke, but Kin was able to get away without a scratch, but with far more fear in her eyes than had been there before. That alone was enough for Asa.

"Haven't you ever heard of not judging a book by its cover?"

No more words were said after that, just the flurry of weapons and claws sounded throughout the air. Despite her surprising weight for such a perfect figure, she was no less agile than before she had released, and that was really annoying in Kin's eyes. The Arrancar had even managed to destroy a few of her crystal feathers, with her hands no less, and her spiked tail was never immobile for too long.

She knew just how to fight them too, how to dodge the incoming projectiles and keep Kaien far enough away from her that he couldn't help her nor injure herself. Her breath wasn't just for show either, and the burning magma that flew at them when she huffed was what always kept Kaien too far from her to be of any use.

Her chest-plate was invaluable when it came to protecting her torso, because if she didn't have it she would have been near death more times than she wanted to count. Too many of Asa's punches had made it through her own hand-to-hand skills, and not because of strength either. The pint-sized dragon had the weight to make her blows deadly and the speed to deliver them.

Finally, Kin caught her unaware and managed a punch bursting with Kidou right into the smaller woman's gut, doubling her over her fist. Asa coughed up blood and fire, but she held on to the fist and Kin had no way to escape from the tail flying over Asa's head right on her unprotected back. The white tendrils came out of nowhere, but they weren't strong enough to stop the weighted object from falling, and it was only thanks to their redirection that it hit the back of Kin's armor and bounced harmlessly off, though the impact hadn't been completely unabsorbed by the body underneath.

Seconds later her hands were wrenched away from the bronze arm and she was thrown—_thrown_—carelessly across the large building. The punch that came next rocked her fangs in her head and jostled her brain, before an unfamiliar feeling of rope tightened around her arm and pulled her back for another mind-numbing blow. Unable to see in the state she was in, she simply spewed fire at whoever was in front of her, and the deep scream that came from that was one she knew very well.

When her senses came back to her, she saw Kaien glaring at her with eyes glowing murderously, all the blood vessels of his sclera broken. His red-rimmed eyes only brought attention to the veins standing out on his body as he held his breath, willing the pain to leave him. He was clutching his right arm, where she could see the burning remnants of some of his white strings shrivel mercifully back into his body. She had seen a look like that before, when he had come close to losing an arm, and realized that none of them had known of the potential nerve-endings the vines might have had.

She felt like crap, but she could still fight. She saw Kin rushing toward Kaien, and knew this was a great chance. With a great inhalation of breath she aimed, and only when she was blowing it all out did she notice she had been surrounded by the crystal feathers of the woman's Bankai.

"Bakudou Eighty: Rejection Void!"

It was like being trapped in a sealed glass bowl, and she had no way to block the fiery magma that filled it of her own volition.

Kin winced at the screams that resulted from what she had done, but both she and Kaien couldn't afford to fight any longer, not against people they couldn't kill. She dispelled her incantation and watched the body fall to the ground, burnt, but not dead. Somehow Asa's hair was only out-of-place, and only a few places where her defenses were the weakest had bad burn marks. Her wings were torn and burnt and her tail was missing its end, but all in all any Soul Reaper would have been incinerated, whereas she had just come out extra crispy.

Asa coughed weakly as she struggled to stay upright while preserving her modesty from the burned tatters her covering had been reduced to. "D…Damn. Im-Impressive…. You have…m-my sup…port…" Then she fell down face first, unconscious.

It was over. Finally.

She made her way over to Kaien as she resealed her Bankai and noticed that he hadn't let go of the white sword he had recently summoned. It hadn't been the first, but it was the one he kept after using the others. "What do we do now?"

He grinned tiredly as he slashed at her and she was too stunned to do anything, but soon grinned when she saw a near hidden bar on the side of the blade glow red against the white backdrop. "Now we fix everyone and get back to normal. Yumichika and Sun-Sun will want to help with your dress, so I should probably introduce you to them once I recover from this."

She smiled so brightly it made the moon pale in comparison.

They were one step closer to their wedding, and she couldn't wait.

…

**Author's Notes:** I should hurry up and post this, 'cause I haven't worked on my Bleach fic for a while. The sooner this is done the sooner I can post the work-in-progress. Anyways, thanks for those that review, even with the inconsistent updates. Sorry about that. When I get working on a story I tend to forget about other things.


	26. The End And The Beginning

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Warning:** The long awaited wedding, which naturally, means yes, there will be lemon. You have been warned.

.

**The End Of The Beginning And The Beginning Of The End**

…

To say Kin was nervous was putting it lightly, in fact it was an insult at this point.

She had gotten used to the lifestyle of Hueco Mundo for the most part, but since she wasn't part Hollow in any sense of the word she could never fully get a grasp on it. She suspected that in order for regular humans to assimilate properly they would have had to be born and raised here, or simply raised like in the Ishida's' case.

She had been in awe of the residents for a good deal of time after their battle. Sure, she could beat most of them, but definitely not _all_ of them. They ranged from the grotesque to the inhumanly beautiful, from deranged to impeccable. Their morals were just as diverse as any human society she had ever learned of, and the greatest surprise of all was that they did in fact, have morals. Here she could be who she wanted to be, who she was, without fear. Ironic, considering fear was a deciding factor in almost everything that went on in the realm, but the fact of the matter was no-one really _cared_ who she was or how she acted. That had once pissed her off, but it wasn't long after that that she realized that they didn't care who _anyone_ was or how _anyone_ acted, unless they were directly associated to them and even then it was only minor.

It almost disgusted her. There was death naturally; the Arrancars loved to fight, but she couldn't even feel outraged because those that had reached the zenith of their evolution fought with zanpakutous, and therefore purified their enemy. What was most surprising was that the death wasn't as widespread as she would have initially thought. They fought, for sure, but not as much or as seriously as she would have expected. She had been around the Rukon districts, scanned intently as she looked for Kaien what seemed like ages ago, and she had seen atrocities that made the beings she was currently living around look like saints.

And the Hollows were supposed to be the bad guys. Kin snorted mentally.

Like Tatsuki had predicted, a wedding didn't just happen, and the Arrancars were unexpectedly excited at the concept, since none of them had been able to go to their King and Queen's wedding. They had seen it though, and many of them liked what they saw. Those that didn't simply didn't have to come.

The freedom she felt here was amazing. They had a hierarchy of power obviously, with the Espada and their royalty, and they had laws too, but only ones addressing the most heinous crimes. They were _Hollows_ and they had _laws_. The only ones that anyone had to worry about were the lower levels and the Menos, most of those that had evolved to the Arrancar, or Vastro-Lorde level lived in peace. She was simply astounded. Hueco Mundo was definitely a place she could handle as a home.

School had started again in the time it had taken for the preparations, and she had instantly been jumped on by her classmates at the noticeable rock on her finger. She had no shame in announcing her engagement, in fact she may have been a little too overzealous in showing it off. Of course, she wasn't blind to the extra light ignited in the eyes of the females of the class. At least they didn't have to worry about her taking one of their potential crushes again. Still, it was hard to focus on school when the rest of her life was waiting for her.

Kaien had been conspicuously absent for all of her dress fittings, and it wasn't that she didn't really mind that, it was just that she wasn't used to it. Though many of the Arrancars, particularly the women, still hadn't warmed up to her very well, there was still a large amount that had. She felt better with the little friends she had there than she had with all the people that she had been around in the Living World for…a long time. It was such a strange feeling, yet one she didn't want to end.

There was so much to explore, so much to do. It made her skin tingle just thinking about it.

She couldn't remember how long she had been away from Kaien, what with going directly from school to Hueco Mundo to organize whatever he hadn't already done that day, while trying to balance going home and keeping her parents in the loop as they helped guide her along with any further preparations. Weddings were dizzying things, and Tatsuki had laughed along with her many a time, saying she hadn't had it nearly as bad. The Shinigami Women's Association came in handy for some things at least, though the other ninety-nine percent of the time they were pretty useless; counterproductive even.

It went without saying then that she and Kaien hadn't been…together in a while. She was so pent-up just the mention of his name could heat her skin, and she knew he was no better off, or she hoped so anyway. Their wedding night was going to be one to remember, she was going to make sure of that.

As it was, everything had been said and done, and there was only one last thing to accomplish before that happened.

The wedding. And right now, she was ready.

She was actually anxiously awaiting the desired music to start. She was dressed and ready, holding the quartz-like flowers in her hands with her father at her side. The blonde man had actually _shaved_ for the occasion, though his precious hat and sandals were still in place, along with his ever-present cane. Soul Society hadn't seen it fit to allow him back, but that didn't mean that he couldn't go to Hueco Mundo. She felt giddy, and she could barely contain the spasms in her hands and feet. She wanted to laugh and scream and smile and dance. It was finally here. She was going to be married. Cold feet were the farthest things from her mind, right then it was all she could do not to run down the aisle and jump into his arms.

When the music started and vibrated through the pale white doors in front of her, her heart nearly stopped. It was here.

The doors opened, and she stepped across the threshold.

Into the beginning of their new life.

……

It had been weeks of nonstop preparation for him. From the layout and construction of the hall it would be held in to everything the wedding-inept Arrancars wanted to incorporate into the event. The first five days alone had been spent trying to educate them on the traditions of the Living World. It was nice though, he was so exhausted by the end of the day he couldn't remember he and Kin's lack of contact.

His body was nearly buzzing with awareness, unexplainably nervous as he stood at the white stone altar and looked down the long white aisle to the doors hiding the woman of his heart from his eyes. He could feel her there, radiating her proud, powerful reiatsu. Knowing she was there and not being able to see her was practically unbearable. His heart was pounding against his ribs, yet he was at a strange sense of calm at the same time.

They were surrounded by people he knew, and some of who she knew. Most of the captains of the Gotei Thirteen had managed to come out, and only those that didn't know of Ichigo's position among Hueco Mundo were absent. Soi-Fong was sitting proudly up front, right beside Yoruichi, who was waiting for her daughter and husband to come down the aisle. Byakuya Kuchiki was the same as ever, but he did seem to have some kind of smile on his face; Kaien was one of the first students he had ever taken on after all. Rukia and Renji were to his left, and as no big surprise, Masaki and Ikki had found some kind of excuse to sit on his right side, the near fluorescent Masaki closest of course.

Jyushiro Ukitake and Retsu were there as well, along with a rather tired looking Kenpachi Zaraki, Yachiru comfortably on his one shoulder and his other arm around a cooing Kuukaku Shiba, who was cradling a sleeping black-haired little boy in her only arm. Ganju was trying not to look out of place in the formal wear he had on and failing miserably, but Kaien couldn't really get married without having them there. Tsukiyomi looked more poised than ever, her white dress dazzling against her own pallid complexion. That might have just been because Sora was sitting next to her with her hand in his, but that was something no-one would ever know.

There were lieutenants there too naturally, as a few of the captains had wed their lieutenants and thus, couldn't _not_ come. The most noticeable of that group was Rangiku and Toshiro, who had followed the lead of some of the other captains and left their children under the care of someone in Soul Society not attending the event. The kids had been to Hueco Mundo before, but one could never be too careful. That, and weddings were among the top five most boring things to anyone under the age of eighteen.

Even with the solemnity of the situation, Kaien suppressed a chuckle.

The time had finally come. They were really about to get married. He couldn't contain the wide grin that wouldn't leave his face, he felt like a kid on a sugar-high. There was no organ, but a piano and many other stringed and brass instruments had been inconspicuously 'imported' to the spiritual realm. It wouldn't have mattered, the music was still unmistakable, and when it started and the doors opened Kaien's heart decided to take up residence in his throat.

It felt like so long ago since he'd seen her, and even longer since he'd touched her, but at that moment he didn't care. She was breathtaking, and he couldn't help but feel underdressed, even for his own wedding.

Her platinum-blond hair was let down, a rarity that he never failed to enjoy. Intermittent throughout her hair were parallel braids, just small enough to add a decorative effect to the sea of gold flowing down her back. Her bright yellow eyes and lush eyelashes were hidden behind a veil kept in place by small clips that resembled bone in her hair, but even that couldn't hide the bright smile her full lips were making. He was glad they had chosen a more Western wedding compared to the traditional Japanese, because the wedding kimono of old wouldn't have had the same effect as the stunning dress on her curves.

The silk garment clung to every piece of skin it covered as if magnetized, accentuating her well-formed breasts before the eyes compulsively followed the fabric up to the strong, feminine physique of her shoulders and her graceful neck. Soft straps reached up around her throat, crossing over each other down her bare back to hold up the back of her dress, which covered her firm posterior and continued down to hide her feet. With each step a mere sliver of chocolate skin was revealed at a time, her white slippers making nary a sound on the marble floor.

Even though he had believed it before, he knew for sure there was a God now. Only a designer, a sculptor, could have ever conceived of making something as beautiful as what was walking towards him. His white and gold kimono seemed like rags in comparison to her, but that was how it was supposed to be. It was her day after all.

They stopped in front of the altar and wordlessly Kisuke Urahara held out his daughter's hand in his own. The smile on Kaien's face had died the moment he saw her, and all that was on his face was awestruck wonder. He felt so incredibly happy not even his smiles could display it accurately. His throat was dry as he took her hand from her father's, and though he was always warmer than her, her heat still shot up his arm like electricity. She stepped up the one step there was to the altar and stood triumphantly, staring up at him lovingly like there was no difference in their heights. Asuka took her place as the maid of honor, and he was sure she winked discreetly at his best man. Apparently Souken must have liked the dress, though he couldn't verify that at the moment. He couldn't tear his eyes away from hers.

It made sense that since there was no clergy of any kind in Hueco Mundo, and no way the unknowledgeable Espada or his family would perform the ceremony, that it was Uryuu Ishida, regal as ever in his white and blue Quincy robes, who had been asked to be the acting official. After all, in the past the Quincy race had been akin to priests. As if on cue, he adjusted his glasses and slid some of his white hair away from the lenses as he cleared his throat softly. He was the best choice for something like this, as the calm, cool Quincy rarely made a mistake, and his demeanor was exactly what they had been looking for. God only knew what Ichigo would have done if he had been forced to do it like some Arrancars wanted.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining of Kaien Kurosaki, and Kin Urahara-Shihouin, in the bonds of Holy Matrimony…"

Only Uryuu could make the age-old sappy lines sound downright mystical, even around those that had never before experienced a wedding. It seemed like no one even blinked while the proceedings were being spoken, even the young child of Kuukaku and Kenpachi slept soundly even while surrounded by hundreds of beings that could easily end his small life. When the finale started it was like no time had passed at all, and the gazes of the bride and groom hadn't left each other's once.

"Do you, Kaien Kurosaki, take Kin Urahara-Shihouin to be your lawfully wedded wife; to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, for as long as you both may live?"

The question snapped Kaien to awareness again, and he swallowed hastily while fighting off the largest grin so far. "I do."

Kin shuddered in glee as the magical voice of her soon-to-be husband washed over her skin. Her hand trembled as she slipped the thin band of precious metal that symbolized their commitment onto his pale finger, and it didn't go unnoticed that his hand was shaking too. She could hardly contain herself.

"And do you, Kin Urahara-Shihouin, take Kaien Kurosaki to be your lawfully wedded husband; to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, for as long as you both may live?"

She couldn't remember how long she had waited for his moment. Two little words and her name would no longer be her own, and everything they had ever promised each other would be recognized by not just them, but by everyone.

"I do." Her exuberant, joyous tone echoed through the room even though she had restrained her volume.

Her hand was taken in his, and with a smooth movement so quick and precise she hardly felt it, the diamond ring was on her finger. It was done, and she could hardly wait for the next words out of the Quincy's mouth.

"Then by the power 'vested in me," Uryuu smirked lightly, as technically he had no power in the realm of the law, but that wasn't about to stop him from abiding with tradition. "I hereby declare you man and wife." Temporarily tempted to wait and see what the all but dancing bride did if he didn't say what he should right away, he quickly discarded the thought at the possible repercussions. "You may kiss the bride."

Her whole body seemed to shiver as he gently removed the veil from her face, ever so slightly brushing his fingers against her skin in the process. It would be their first kiss as husband and wife. He drew her to him with a force that almost took her breath away, and when that didn't work, he then made it happen with a kiss that short-circuited all of her nerve-endings and sent heat through her body so extreme she almost melted. She fell into the kiss with a passion, and Kaien was soon just as breathless as his wife as they melted together like no-one else was in the room.

This kiss, just as this moment, was perfect.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Kaien and Kin Kurosaki."

The crowd roared in applause, and they held each other with smiles on their faces.

He grinned at her. "Looks like we're the double-K combo now, eh?" he asked incredulously, and she grinned right back.

"That's fine with me," she replied happily, and tiptoed up to steal a chaste kiss. The only one she had planned for the night. Every other was going to be so dipped in fire neither of them was going to be able to see straight if things went her way.

The building shook and rumbled as cracks appeared on one of the walls, until with a great _crack_ a Vastro-Lorde flew backwards through it like he had been punched. With the inhibitors around the building compromised thanks to that, everyone in the vicinity was quickly able to pick up on the large, unrefined reiatsu that could only be attributed to those of the Adjucha rank. Even with the reiatsu of all those inside hidden, there had still been an attack.

"I'm sorry Ichigo!" the large Arrancar said as he jumped back to his feet. Ichigo hated being referred to as 'King' under any circumstance, so most just called him by name. "We tried to keep the battle as far from here as we could!"

He—and everyone else for that matter—was suddenly pushed down by not one, but two spiritual pressures that were far beyond murderous, they were outright evil. Though it was a hindrance, most were able to look at where it was coming from. It wasn't like it would take a brain surgeon to figure out who was emitting it anyway. The bride and groom, previously smiling like all was right with the world, now looked like the end of the world personified. Kin's glare could have killed if glares alone held physical effects, and Kaien's body was so tense even the veins _not_ normally seen when holding breath could be seen quite visibly.

"They could have chosen any day. _Any!_ Freaking! _DAY!_ Of all the times…!!" Kin was so angry she couldn't even finish her sentence, and just sputtered off into mindless cussing under her breath, the contents of which had even some Arrancars blushing.

Kaien's glower was no better. "Well, at least we _did_ get to finish the ceremony." She had to agree with him there. Then he grinned, as if hit with the greatest idea ever. "Hey~~~ya know, I think we can work with this."

Kin's face spun towards him, mouth agape. She clearly didn't see what he was getting at. Still grinning as the sounds of battle got clearer around them as it neared, Kaien removed the haori of his elegant kimono and stretched shirtless in front of all their guests. He then bowed at Kin and held out his hand. "My lady, if you would be so kind as to give me this dance…"

Kin's eyes brightened in malicious glee as she spotted the glint of dark humor in her husband's heterochromatic orbs. She turned to her mother and held out her hand, where within an instant of understanding her sword twirled into her outstretched hand. With an over-exaggerated curtsy she took his hand with her free one. "It would be my pleasure, dear husband." The word rolled off her tongue easily, and she found she liked the feel of it very much. He was her husband now; not just boyfriend, or lover, but husband.

Kaien looked out on the stunned crowd with his dark smirk still in place. "I know this is a bit different than planned, but please enjoy the music and dancing now instead of later. My wife and I will be back as soon as we _kill_ every single _one_ of those blasted _idiots_ that decided _today_ would be a nice day to crash a wedding." Then just like that his face broke out into a wide smile. "Enjoy!" How something so dark could be said so sweetly only spoke of how pissed he really was.

With a spin of his wrist he had drawn and sheathed her sword, and to her surprise—and many Arrancars' immediate horror—he had cut himself only slightly on his shoulder and finger. Some people may have wondered what two insignificant little cuts could mean, but to a Hollow, they knew their blood was an ingredient almost as dangerous as the swords they held. At first glance the only thing that people noticed was a breeze, then it quickly gained force and color and his unique reiatsu had joined with the exposed blood to form the Espada-only technique. Not even having the grace to admire the enormity of what he was about to do, Kaien clenched the roiling power in his fist and his body exploded into an array of black light, the only thing familiar being the energy sparking from his back. If Cero could be used for his technique, it only made sense that Gran Rey Cero could be used too.

"Have fun everyone, see you in a bit!"

And like a bolt he shot out the hole in the wall, where Kin soon followed. _It's a good thing I had this dress made backless,_ she thought with a humorless giggle. Though she had been startled at her husband once again displaying more ability than she had seen before, it lost its novelty rather quickly. She had come to expect this kind of thing from him, and it wasn't like she was going to allow him to show her up for long.

There was no way she was letting him have all the fun, even if she was in a dress.

When they were gone, Ichigo looked out among the crowd with an impish grin. "Ya know, they said we should enjoy the music, why not bring it to them? That fight sounds way more interesting than dancing."

Of course, poor Tatsuki was still pregnant, and almost to the basketball level she had experienced with her other two pregnancies. "Go ahead, I'll watch the festivities from here…" The bitterness in her voice couldn't be mistaken for anything else.

Her King leaned over and kissed her with a smile. "Like Kai said, it'll only be a little while. Hell, if anyone had interrupted us on our wedding day I would've lost it too."

She had to grin, even if she didn't feel like it, and punched him in the shoulder. "Just get out there you idiot, I know you want to!"

"I'll be back before you know it!"

Just how many people that would apply to, he hadn't known at the time.

……

As much as he was trying to keep his eyes on the next surprised Adjucha to which he had aimed—that barely had time to react to his presence before he tore it apart with his bare hands—he couldn't stop his eyes from trailing back to her.

He hadn't known a simple change of clothes could make her fighting look so…sensual.

Then again, her dress was anything but simple.

She had learned after the first leap that her dress hadn't been made for what she was about to do, and as such she had improvised a quick and easy solution. Her sword drawn like it was nothing, she cut a slit from the bottom of her left thigh to the end of the dress, revealing that much more creamy mocha skin to his eyes. What was even more amazing was the simple modification had made it cling to her that much more, not the least bit bothered by the white light emanating from her or the lightning dancing from her back.

Knowing her, under any regular circumstances she would have probably gone straight into Bankai, but he suspected that like him, she had to feel something tangible on her hands in order to get any relief. Now, her white staff fit her dress like it had been meant to be part of the ensemble from the beginning, and unlike her first encounter with the evolved Menos, she had grown considerably stronger. She had yet to have a scratch on her.

She moved like finely written poetry, the giants around her barely having time to move a finger before the energy crackling in the crimson orbs of her staff disemboweled them, or she happened to be particularly angry and put her fist through their heads herself. Now he had another reason to love her having her hair down; when she moved both the admittedly small train of her dress _and_ her golden tresses followed in its wake, adding elegance the likes of which he had never seen before.

He tried to remember she was fighting, and essentially that meant she was in a good deal of danger, but just watching her, it was like she was putting on a recital for one, dancing in carefree abandon. The only thing that offset that was her expression—her beautiful face was hard in anger at those that had dared interrupt her special day. It would seem she didn't have too much of an attachment to the materialistic part of the event, as she had cut her one and only wedding dress without a second's hesitation, but the principle of the solemn occasion being interrupted was likely what she was fighting for.

Their opponents ranged from the grotesque and huge to the animalistic and sleek, small and large in no particular order. The only cause for concern was there was also a few of the more bestial Vastro-Lorde among them, and it was quite apparent that they weren't fighting for Las Noches' side. Prejudice was only natural, more so when run completely by instinct for the most part.

It was no matter to her, she spun like she had no idea of the enemies around her, her strikes precise or violent to the point that every wave that came at her fell within moments of coming into contact with her lightning-laden body. Whether it was the lack of contact, his hormones—which constantly reminded him of said lack of contact—or his desire for her in general was uncertain, all he knew was he couldn't keep his eyes off her gorgeous form. If he was sure of one thing though, it would be that he was the only one seeing the desire also laid out on _her_ movements. Once upon a time he would have thought he was overanalyzing, but he could tell for sure now, mostly because her eyes met his more than they met the beings she was supposed to be fighting against. That was the only time her hard scowl melted back into the woman smiling happily at the altar, like she had been minutes ago.

He had never wanted her more, and that was saying something.

His eyes widened in pure panic when he saw what she didn't coming up behind her, too close and fast for even him to get to her. There it was again, that feeling of helplessness. He couldn't stand it! But what else could he do? They were fighting, it was common sense that someone was going to get hurt. Maybe he'd been too mesmerized by her dance-like fighting that he had strayed too far from her, focused on helping out the others who were having trouble rather than staying near her.

His weighted heart lifted in pure glee when millions, no, millions upon millions of pink Sakura blossoms twirled around his wife, annihilating all around her without the tiniest bit of difficulty.

Even though it wasn't their fight, it seemed like the Soul Reapers present had decided they were friends first and military officers second. And everyone knows that friends help friends in their times of need.

"It has been too long since Senbonzakura has last danced in the sky, yet this age of peace is in no need of changing. Begone." Only Byakuya Kuchiki could say something like that convincingly, and it was with grace that he moved his hands and the beautiful weapon followed like the wind itself towards other Adjucha, even taking out ones already being fought. Clearly he didn't like the wedding being interrupted any more than they did.

A vicious laugh crackled through the air moments later and murderous, bright yellow reiatsu brightened the area like the sun as the wielder of said reiatsu carved through any unfortunate Menos that had the incredibly bad luck of being in his way. "Now this is my kind'a party!!! Bring it on you posers!!!" It was hard to mistake that for anyone other than Kenpachi Zaraki. If there was one constant in the entire world, it would have to be his absolute bloodlust for battle.

Altogether it was an extremely impressive display of power from just the two that had shown up so far, a more reassuring presence came when both Soi-Fong and Yoruichi appeared, who chose to fight alongside the only person he was worried about. Now he was much more obliged to fight beside others who needed it, not stay and compulsively protect her. He was a bit biased in his choice, he couldn't help it.

Now that that was out of the way, it was time for those freaks to really pay.

……

It was a lot easier to move in her dress than she had thought it would, especially after her little 'modification.' Though it was neither the time nor the place, she could sense her husband's eyes on her, drinking her in, undressing her. She felt shivers of delight rush down her spine at the thought, even as she spun and slashed with her staff amidst the horrors of battle. It wasn't the kind of dancing she would have expected at a wedding, her own included, but it wasn't that bad. Besides, she would have to get used to it if she wanted to remain here for any length of time anyway.

Not that it made the situation any better, but rationalization was the only hope she had of staying sane.

She hated the other look she had seen in his eyes, the one that was terrified for her life even though she was more powerful than most any seated officer in the Gotei Thirteen. That didn't mean much when they were completely outnumbered, not to mention that most Adjucha put seated officers to shame. At least those over number five. It still wasn't very comforting to her pride.

Now, with her mother and her favorite person in the world outside of her close circle of friends fighting along with her, she was allowed more time to admire _his_ fighting more openly than before. Unexpectedly, music had mysteriously started playing around them too and even for such a tense situation, the beautiful music was incredibly fitting for some unknown reason. Both saucy and slow, the typically Spanish beats added something to the fighting that was hard to explain. So far, this was the only time she had been able to get a good look at his technique's higher form too, and she could tell instantly that it was just as dangerous to him as it was to his enemies. The ends of his hakama were getting _singed_.

She could only imagine the heat that he must be generating right then, the extremely potent energy compressed against its will being focused into his limbs. He was a streak of black wherever he went, his dark reiatsu covering him into an almost unrecognizable state, all but his eyes and mouth standing out against the cloak of dark energy. The pulsing light shuffled his body in and out of view, replacing it for the mantle of darkness like a flickering strobe light, and it made watching his movements all the more hypnotizing.

Even without a sword, his hands and feet flew through the giant, steel-skinned bodies of the Adjucha seemingly without any friction at all. Though using Nejibana had no negative effects on his body, that wasn't to say it had no effect on his heart, and Kin had learned over the preparation time that if he didn't have to he wouldn't use the husk of the sword she had become. The white tendrils at his disposal under his skin were a different matter however, and they too were coated with the same power flowing over him when they flew out, holding just as much force as one of his arms. Even with the reiatsu practically drenched over his body, she could still appreciate the way his powerful muscles rippled with effort under his inhumanly pale skin with every movement.

It was enough to make her mouth water, yet she had to put up with wasting all the freaks around her before she was allowed to enjoy it. That motivation added even more strength to her blows, slicing through anything without worry of being parried or heaven forbid, dodged. They came at her like angry bees, and she responded in kind, her twirling staff in perfect synchronization with her mother and Soi-Fong's agile moves in her blind spots.

Like a light burning out, the enormous reiatsu that had both been pushing down on the air and lighting with space around him disappeared suddenly, and she quickly looked over in unneeded panic. He had merely disabled what could be described as Gran Rey Cerokou, and she could see the reminders of that. His body was _steaming_ in the cool desert night, his skin superheated from the intense energies formerly around him. Hueco Mundo didn't have cycles of day and night like Soul Society, but the temperature did change as time went on. If not for Las Noches any human would be quickly disoriented by the lack of a visible cycle of time.

His formerly elegant hakama were now burnt on the edges and his socks and sandals had been completely burned away, but his skin looked no worse for wear than it had before, if anything it looked even smoother. It was a very well-informed guess on her part that had he kept the technique up any longer his entire body would have looked like his shoulders had last time he used Cerokou for too long. Even if he healed quickly, it wasn't a very pretty sight.

This sight however, even had the sexually repressed Soi-Fong staring. "Wow…"

It wasn't something one should utter, most importantly around the bride of aforementioned sight. However, Kin was too busy staring with her to bother getting angry at the other woman. Hell, she agreed with her. While they were busy doing that and haphazardly fighting as well, Kaien was simply fighting again, using the constant distraction as a reason not to look at his wife. He was afraid any more and he'd become too…noticeably aroused.

She noticed that unlike most of the male Arrancars who relied solely on their power and their released form's abilities to fight, he moved with a more subtle grace that was inherent in most marital artists, though his was to a greater extent. Looking around, it wasn't hard to figure out why. Wherever she saw one of his Fraccion, she could see elements of his movements. Since the majority of those were women—and before that even he had been training with her for most of their known lives—he had unconsciously started moving with the feline, agile movements that most women relied on instead of focusing on the raw strength that would normally come easier. The only exceptions she had ever noticed was when he was angry; then that raw power added rigidity to that grace that made the flowing movements less like the dance she was seeing now.

He dodged left and right between blows from two different Adjucha, and the heat of his skin was apparent in the fact that his punches left steaming holes when they were delivered. Back at his home what seemed like ages ago, he had finished off hundreds of these things in minutes, but back then he had been tired, furious, and desperate. This time she was truly allowed to watch him fight against a large number of enemies when he didn't have anything else to worry about. Sure, she had been on Hollow hunts with him before, but in the Living World the low levels that appeared there weren't even worth the strength in her pinky finger. Naturally, that only applied to those under Menos class.

She hadn't even realized she had stopped doing everything and was simply watching him, but Yoruichi and Soi-Fong did, and were watching _her_ with knowing grins on their faces. That was quite the feat for the repressed Second Division captain.

All of a sudden the clear night sky was filled the thunderheads, and it only took a small look to the side to see what had invoked it. Rangiku Hitsugaya had taken a particularly nasty blow to the side of her head, and her white-haired captain and husband had responded in absolute fury. The previously sealed sword now took the form of large glacial wings complete with tail and armguard in the shape of a dragon's head on the man's body, and it was a sight to behold for sure. Hyourinmaru's power was devastating on the elemental level, and completely released like it was now was even more dangerous. The young man wielding it truly looked like an ice king, with a valley of the serrated substance now annihilating any in its path.

Byakuya Kuchiki was as stoic as always, destroying wave after wave of beast-like Hollows in seconds with calm waves of his hands. He almost looked like he _was_ dancing, and to the amusement of others, even under the circumstances Masaki and Ikki hadn't strayed too far. It actually looked like they were helping him, and from the lack of consternation of Byakuya's face—one of the few emotions he ever showed regularly—they must have been doing something right.

One didn't need to look far to see Ichigo either, as the black and red whips of energy were easily recognized as his patented Getsuga Tenshou. That…and his orange hair stood out like a fire against the dreary grey background of Hueco Mundo, but no one was about to tell him that. If he was having any trouble dealing with the intruders, he certainly wasn't showing it. Then again, it was very hard to trouble the wizened ex-substitute Shinigami unless it was done before he was ready. He hadn't changed much since his youth, but more than twenty years of experience will change how anyone fights, especially if a good portion of those years was spent in the thickest of thick when it came to the lives of Hollows.

When her eyes finally trailed back to Kaien she saw that he had moved his fights to the newly-made icy terrain, and while he was there he had proceeded to _melt_ the ice around him thanks to his body's temperature. He had probably wanted that, it was the perfect way to cool off. After all, if he was too hot, literally, he wouldn't be able to hold her. Kin—who had started fighting again just so that she wasn't showed up by those around her—now stopped moving completely.

Either some of the melted ice had made its way to his skin, or he had actually worked up a sweat. He was now _sweaty_, steaming, and half-naked. She had never imagined it would be possible outside one of those ridiculously fake photo shoots that appeared in magazines, but it had really happened. Her desire was now making itself known very, _very_ strongly, and she had absolutely _no_ desire to resist it anymore.

She shouldn't have been putting up with this in the first place! She shouldn't _have_ to! It was her _wedding_ day! She was _allowed_ to feel like this, she was _supposed_ to feel like this, so why on earth did she have to fight it?!

Any patience she might have had, and even her rationalizations that were still so very fresh in her mind, evaporated so quickly it could be questioned if they were ever there to begin with.

With a flourish of her staff she yelled, "Bankai!!"

The wings exploded around her, feeding off the great blue light of Shunkou she was emitting violently. Like homing missiles they shot away from their respective positions and around the battlefield, startling friend and foe alike as the seemingly harmless crystal feathers floated in the air in front of them. This wasn't going to be small, she wasn't going to hold back anymore. She was way too frustrated to care about that anymore. Her words were quiet though, leaving all but those closest to her in the dark about what she was going to do. It was obviously a chant, but for what they didn't know. She didn't like chanting, she had spent much too much time on it during her training in order to master the Demon Arts, but even she couldn't deny the boost in strength a spell was given when the chant was with it.

They figured it out very quickly when she finished.

"Bakudou Sixty-One: Six Stave Light Prison!!" And thanks to the ability of her zanpakutou, the innumerable feathers of its complete release scattered everywhere, nearly every single enemy was ensnared in the strong binding spell. It was like the entire battle froze in place, but she wasn't nearly done yet. "Hadou Sixty-Three!!"

There were numerous eyes that widened at that and, _Oh shit,_ became the collective consensus.

"Twin Lotus Blue Fire Crash!!!!!"

There wasn't any time for pain to be felt, for realization to kick in, the words were simply screamed, and just like that nearly every Adjucha that was still alive…wasn't. They just…weren't. In the blue fury of the double incantation they _disappeared_. Those left were gaping in horror at the extremely sudden turn of events, and without the advantage of numbers to hide in they were struck down easily

Tatsuki, who had been watching from the top of the building the wedding was being held in, scratched the side of her head lightly as she snickered. "Hot damn, that was…unexpected." The next thing she saw was her daughter-in-law disengage her Bankai, float herself to the ground, and run full speed into the arms of her surprised son, who was completely unprepared for the—even she had to admit it and she was only _watching_—_hot_ kiss Kin suddenly initiated. It was obvious she thought his skin had cooled down enough, and if it hadn't she certainly wasn't giving any signs that it was bothering her. The pregnant Queen sighed dramatically with her famous smirk on her face. "Well, maybe not."

She had a feeling the bride and groom were going to retire for the evening rather quickly after this.

……

The aftermath wasn't nearly as bad as what had happened in previous engagements with the Adjucha and their cohorts, but there were still a few nursing wounds and getting them tended to by the benevolent Retsu Ukitake, who had so kindly offered her services to Soul Reaper and Vastro-Lorde alike. Being that that was the case, it didn't take nearly as long to recover as it had before, especially since most of them had flesh wounds at worst.

So as everyone made their way back into the decorated building—which was now sporting a large hole through one of its walls—there wasn't too much of a change, except now everyone was practically high on endorphins and adrenaline. The musicians that had had maybe too much fun playing while the fighting was going on, now returned to the building and the sounds of guitars, drums, violins and nearly every other non-electrical instrument one could name resounded through the wonderfully acoustic area with perfect sound. Being that one side of the hall had been made specifically for dancing, it didn't take long for many to make their way over, but to everyone's surprise they saw that they had been beaten there.

The bride and groom had stayed; her in her still magnificent dress and he still so fearlessly without a shirt. What was surprising though was the young woman's apparent lack of confidence on the dance floor, but it was hard to see being that she was all but glued to the creamy white body of her husband.

"I thought your mother was an expert dancer," Kaien whispered softly into her ear as they swayed back and forth.

She tried to hide the blush that wanted to rise over ever exposed part of skin. "I wanted to learn how to fight, not how to dance. We might have done a bit of dancing to help me with my movement flow, but I couldn't care less as long as I…" she trailed off embarrassedly as she thought of her reason.

"As long as you…beat me?" he guessed with an all-knowing smirk on his handsome face.

She scowled cutely, and he made an acquiescing expression to let her know he dropped the subject.

"When did you have the time to learn to dance anyways?" she asked in what could be called a curious whisper.

He grinned at her. "You don't live here too long without learning how to dance."

She arched a graceful eyebrow at him. "Hmm?"

"There are four things they like to do more than anything. Fighting, playing music, and dancing are three."

"What's the fourth?"

He grinned at her; that same, unknowingly sensual grin that had always made her weak in the knees. "You know how they say dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire, right?"

It didn't take the genius long to figure out what he meant. "Oh…."

The rhythm abruptly took on what could only be described as a spicy beat, and the low, sexual undertones thrumming through the bongos and other percussions could be felt in her body more than in the sound itself. It was like the music itself was telling her to get closer to him, and like he could read her mind he had pulled her even tighter against his body, so close one of her legs was between his as one of his hands clasped to the small of her back and the other held firm between her shoulder blades.

Heat exploded inside her, so intense her breath strangled out of her in a feminine gasp that she had never heard herself make before. "Will you teach me?" she rasped out hoarsely, fighting between trying to keep her fluttering eyes open and falling into the beat with reckless desire, despite her knowing next to nothing about dance. At that moment she didn't care if she couldn't dance, as long as he kept holding her. Even if she couldn't dance, in that position she would have found _something_ she could do.

His hot breath ghosted over her ear and she shivered unintentionally. "I don't need to _teach_ you this dance. Just _feel_, and follow me."

His hips rolled, pushing even harder into hers before swaying to the side and circling back, all the while she moved as if stuck to his body, grinding her hips with his in complimentary movement while never leaving. His hands trailed down her body slowly, over her arms like flowing water before winding her fingers in his and moving them up. Before she knew it she was spinning, seemingly so far away from the warm body she had been holding yet quickly pulled back flush to his front as he moved into her, moving them up and down like a wave had rolled through them. He spun her again, this time following in her movement and gliding them across the floor, unnoticing of the others following their example.

She felt like she was drowning, intoxicated on the essence of her lover as they moved in ways she had only felt before when they made love. He was always there, against her, moving her, filling her with his very presence. She had never felt so small before, both in surety and in stature, yet she could feel every emotion displayed so passionately, both of her own and of his. Somewhere in her mind she was suddenly angry at whoever had taught him this dance, but at the moment she was too drunk on him to care as long as he kept moving them.

"What is this…?" she whispered brokenly when she found her voice.

He held her against him wantonly as he moved down to kiss her neck. "It's called the _buchata._ There's no better dance if you're trying to express emotion." His voice was low and smoky, like a fog had settled over the rushing waters of his magical undertone, and she couldn't describe the way it went straight to her womanhood. Primal heat was all she felt between them, his hot skin pressed against hers, and it was all she could do not to scream that she still had something covering her chest from being in direct contact against his flushed ivory. "Move with me, Kin," he crooned lovingly.

And she did.

It felt so strange, almost like they were making love right there on the dance floor in front of all their guests. They moved together like they had been partners for years, like the sole goal of their existence was to try and display their passion. They teased each other with longing gestures as they split before melding back together, dipped like they were only clothing to the other, pressed so close not even gravity dared try to break them apart. For those watching it was almost voyeuristic, but for them they were simply dancing.

"How often…have you danced this?" With the way they were dancing, she almost felt like she was asking how many girls he had slept with, even though she knew their first time had been with each other.

His two-toned eyes bored into her with unrestrained lust and she gulped quietly. "Enough to know it. Dancing is a less violent form of stress relief than fighting." He clearly didn't want to explain it right then, but he knew he would want the answer too if he was in her position. "But," he clarified quickly as he meshed them together again, harder than before, "you're the only one who's ever done _this_."

As to what 'this' was was rather apparent to her, and the feel of his hard arousal pressing against her made her own desire that much more potent.

Her skin burned as his hands moved over her, it ached where clothing repelled him from touching her closer, and while she hadn't even broken a sweat in the unexpected battle earlier her skin was now glistening in a fine layer from their movements. Though, whether that was from exertion or arousal was another matter altogether. She had been hesitant over his desire to stay after the battle, but now as she danced with him she thought she was glad they had. This was an experience she never wanted to end, but when it did she wanted it to be on a bed. This dance was so blatantly sensual the only thing she could call it was foreplay, and the states of their bodies affirmed that designation.

She had wanted him badly before, bad enough to kill all of their enemies in seconds so she could be closer to him. She hadn't known there was a level beyond that, but whatever it was it was there and she had found it. They were both sweating, panting hard against each other with flushed skin and the scent of their bodies hung in the air around them like an aromatic aphrodisiac.

Normally that would have been smelled instantly by those around them, but seeing as how everyone around them was doing the same thing there were a lot more scents heavy in the air than there would have been had it just been them. Even the calm and easily embarrassed Souken Ishida had been pulled onto the dance floor by Asuka. Ironically, the Quincy was demonstrating that she should never give him an outlet for his emotions that involved her because by this time she looked rather aroused herself, but it was also quite evident that she was loving it and responding in kind.

Though Tatsuki had been forbidden to do anything strenuous, that didn't mean that she and Ichigo weren't giving entirely new definitions to the term 'bump and grind' and even with the baby bump she looked more than attractive. It was emphasized even more because she was dancing with the only man that could make her move like she was, but that could be said about a lot of the couples dancing around them. For example, it could be doubted whether or not the icy Toshiro Hitsugaya would dance like that with anyone other than Rangiku.

The answer? A quick and definite no.

Kaien couldn't take it any more. "I want you. Dear God I need you," he whispered hoarsely into her ear, and he could feel the heat of her skin intensify.

She smiled seductively; proud she had lasted longer than he had. It had never left her mind. "God I thought you were never going to say that."

By the time anyone noticed they were missing, they were long gone.

All things considered, it was a pretty good first wedding for Hueco Mundo.

……

Kaien had more than one room in Hueco Mundo, in fact like all of the Espada he had an entire citadel that was technically his, though he didn't use it very often.

For their first night as a married couple, this seemed like a very good time to try it out.

They had barely broken through the door to the master bedroom before Kin had kicked off her slippers and was shimmying out of her extravagant dress, where it pooled on the cold stone floor like a white puddle. Free of their incarceration, the cups hiding her erect nipples from view fell off her swollen breasts to join her dress, and clad in only what even Kaien had to admit was a very sexy, very _wet_ pair of panties she pressed her lips against his.

It had taken everything he had to hold back, calming himself temporarily every time their bodies met as he moved them along in the dance made all the more erotic because of who he was dancing with. Truth be told he had even considered taking her right there on the dance floor, though it was a fleeting thought at best. The time they had been away from each other and the dancing beforehand had them both in a state of heightened awareness, and they were putting that to ideal use.

The smoldering fire that had been growing steadily over the night roared to greater life with every one of his wild caresses and deep kisses, seemingly insistent on putting her into a mindless state of lust before he ravaged her like she knew he wanted so badly to do. She ripped the obi from his hakama at the same time he ripped the sopping wet material from her womanhood and finally they were naked in front of each other.

"It's been so long…so long!" Kin cried exuberantly as her large breasts were manhandled by her husband. He knew her breasts were sensitive and he wasn't afraid to use that knowledge. With a playful push she was on her back on the bed and he was over her, kissing her with a desperation she knew all too well.

"Kin, can I?" he groaned softly, and she nearly punched him.

"Yes, God yes! Please, just put it in me!!"

He had never heard her say something like that before, and turned-on beyond belief he plunged into her. She screamed in relief as her fingers tightened like talons into his shoulders, and he groaned almost as loudly when he penetrated his wife after maybe too much teasing.

It wasn't slow or tepid, it was a blind charge towards what they both wanted and they were loving every minute of it. With each stroke he hit her deeper, numbing both of their muscles from the shocks of electricity that coursed through them as he did so. His rigid muscles were trembling as he held himself above her, and she was doing everything she could to meet him halfway in his efforts. It felt too impossibly good, but it felt even better when she met his force with her own, joining them together almost violently.

She could feel his girth stretching her, rubbing against her insides and places she had never reached with her fingers. Her hips weren't her own anymore, they were grinding against his with a will that couldn't be her own. She wasn't a needy person, or a desperate person, but her hips were leading her to believe otherwise. The voice crying out for more, screaming in passion and lust couldn't be her own, could it?

Then she focused in on him, and impossibly her arousal spiked even further. His angelic, zanpakutou-inspired voice was making sounds she had never heard from any creature, let alone a man before. His eyes were tight with concentration, yet focused solely on hers. The intimacy of that took her breath away, just in time to be jolted by yet another skin-numbing thrust. At the rate they were going she was sure she was going to have bruises but she couldn't give the smallest of a damn.

It hit her unexpectedly, overcome so quickly she barely had time to register it before she stiffened and shook in climax while he was still thrusting into her. Her voice choked itself out of her throat in a mangled version of his name as weeks of pent-up tension exploded within her, but he wasn't done yet. He was still in her, still hitting every place she loved at the same pace, and it was driving her wild. Supersensitive from her orgasm, she practically melted into the bed as he slowed his speed, languidly tearing cry after cry from her luscious lips with each bone-jarringly deep thrust that had her skin tingling.

"Oh God…oh God…oh God…Kaien…Kaien!!!" She felt like she was going to start crying if it got any more intense, and then his soft lips were upon her again, coaxing her tongue out to meet his as he kept them joined. As he slowed she could feel each inch move itself inside her, the agonizing loneliness as he drew out to the unearthly wholeness when he entered. He was doing things to her mouth he had never done before too, exploring every sensitized inch like it was the best thing he had ever tasted. She was being overwhelmed and she loved it, and tried her best to make love to his mouth the same way he was doing to hers.

She whined in loss when he broke that epic kiss, but before she could have time to complain he had latched his now free mouth over one of her ignored nipples. The dark, erect flesh that had been overlooked since that time at the beginning sent shocks right down to her gloriously abused womanhood and a pleased moan hummed through her chest. When she looked down at the sight she tightened up automatically, earning a welcome moan from her husband. He was so pale, even the white, hypnotically blue-waved hair that she could see just added to his white complexion, and to see him against her dark skin sent shivers of arousal through her entire body.

When he switched to her other breast, leaving the one he had been at glistening erotically, for a second she could clearly see his hard erection attached to his powerful body pounding into her, joining them more intimately than anything else could. Struck by the beauty of the act they were performing, the animal lust that had led to the encounter left a warm sizzling in her heart as her love overrode all else. They were really married, and they were really making love, consummating that promise they had made publicly in the safety of their own company. Before she knew it tears were falling from her eyes, but she was so happy in that moment she couldn't feel them.

A soft, unsure caress down her face brought some of her mental faculties back to her, and she looked up to see Kaien looking at her worriedly, even as they were still together.

"Are you okay?"

It was almost funny how he could stop in the middle of something that felt so good, but her tears could make him stop anything. She did giggle though, though the thought occurred to her that one doesn't usually giggle during sex. The vibration rocked him in her, and she gasped pleasantly at the reminder. She cupped his face in her hands with a gentle smile and noticed how small even they looked in comparison with him. "I feel so good. Too good for words," she rasped with as much strength as she was able. "It just finally occurred to me that we're married, and making love as husband and wife."

He hardened within her even more, if it was possible, and she groaned in ecstasy as she threw her head back. He growled playfully as he rocked into her again, and she squinted an eye open to see him grinning down at her. "You shouldn't have reminded me of that."

She cocked an eyebrow before rolling her hips into him, this time causing _him_ to gasp. "Why?" she asked with a wicked grin, enjoying the playful banter made all the better by the magnificent jolts caused by their joined bodies.

"Now you really won't be able to walk tomorrow."

She didn't even have time to widen her eyes before he thrust into her again, as deep as he could from the position they were in. He watched her throat bounce as she tried to gasp in air and he continued relentlessly, tingling with pleasure with every encouraging noise she made.

She felt amazing, like she was trying to squeeze him for everything he was worth. With every spasm that overtook her body it was mimicked within her, and it was all he could do to hold off the first time she had climaxed. Her wet heat couldn't be described, and it was getting even tighter. He knew the signs, and he also knew this time there wasn't a chance in hell of him holding back. It was too incredibly good, as even as he tried to go faster and harder, his muscles were on a delay because of the wonderful numbness that would overtake his legs every time the sizzles of electricity fired through him with every thrust.

Her pretty pink tongue was stretched out of her mouth as she cried for more, and the sight of her breasts bouncing in time with his thrusts just made the image all the more arousing. He could feel it coming, feel her start tightening her muscles, gripping his arms with what would be crushing force to any mortal male. He sped up, earning a loud, prolonged scream that punctuated the start of her orgasm.

With a cry of his own he came inside her as her core convulsed around him, the long-awaited bliss that they had both been striving for. She wasn't done yet, and kept grinding herself into him just like he had to her after her first, and it drove him crazy. Hypersensitive from their orgasms, they both felt it even better as they sensually rubbed themselves together, he still painfully hard.

She moaned contently as she felt the hot liquid overflowing her already full womanhood, where it ran down their joined hips into the soft cleft of her backside. The feeling was indescribable. When he withdrew she was left with the alien feeling of loneliness, and she didn't like it one bit after the intense ecstasy they had just experienced together.

Experimentally she ran her fingers down her wet sex, reveling in the sticky heat left there. "Wow…"

Kaien could only repeat it. "Yeah, wow."

She was still tingling all over, and again she rubbed herself, testing the wetness left between her legs and this time getting her other hole. To her surprise she couldn't help but moan when she pressed against the puckered hole, and a wicked idea came to mind. It was frightening in a way, he was a lot bigger than her, but she was her mother's daughter and couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like. Right in front of her naked, still hard husband, she put one finger into her remaining virgin entrance, using their combined fluids as lubricant. She saw the effect immediately, as his entire stance went rigid.

She spread her legs wider, not in the least bit embarrassed in front of him. "That feels nice…" she cooed as she pushed her finger in deeper to probe her inner depths. She saw him gulp heavily, and hid the smile that wanted to break out on her face. To her surprise however, he actually reached over and removed her hand, and before she could ask why he had replaced her finger with his larger one while his thumb moved to circle her clit. Her legs instantly tensed at the sudden and volatile shock of pleasure that flowed through her, and her eyes fluttered as she watched him pleasure her.

His finger felt so much better than hers, and what he was doing to her clitoris had her whole body shaking. She groaned when he pulled out of her, but when he started using two fingers instead of one that thought was instantly discarded. She could feel herself stretching around him as he used her wetness to keep her comfortable, and she had honestly never thought she could feel this good from having her ass teased.

The edge of bliss felt so close, but she noticed that he had stayed rather painfully hard the entire time. Wordlessly she moved away from him and rolled onto her hands and knees as she shoved herself towards him insistently. When she felt the tip of his erection, still wet with their juices, pressing against her she nearly moaned.

"Are you sure?" He asked worriedly.

She looked over her shoulder back at him, gracing him with a feline pose that radiated sexuality. "My all is yours Kaien. I've never been more sure of that."

She bit her lip when she felt the engorged tip opening her up, and moaned loudly when her body accepted it and he was inside her. Carefully he slid into her and her arms gave out, flattening her breasts to the bed as she felt herself be filled. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant experience since he was going so slowly, but the pleasure hadn't quite started yet either. She felt short of breath, and the feeling of him inside her, pushing her buttocks apart admittedly felt foreign, but also amazingly arousing. He was giving her time to adapt, and that made all the difference.

By the time he started moving every nerve ending had been primed and readied, and the never before used nerves sent lightning bolts through her, causing her to clamp down on him harder.

"God Kin, you're so tight…"

Hearing his strained voice just made it even better, and she pushed herself back, accepting his whole length into her waiting body. They moaned simultaneously and he tightened his grip on her hips. "I feel…so full…. Please…move!"

He did as she commanded, nearly withdrawing completely before plunging back into her and earning a hoarse, satisfied cry as her legs trembled. "More!!"

That was all he needed to hear, and started moving more steadily, setting a pace that had her screaming. It was a lot tighter and it felt amazing, but it couldn't compare to the way her inner muscles convulsed around him like only they could. He wasn't about to complain, it felt great and she was obviously enjoying it. Her body sucked to him like it didn't want to let him go, and he responded by pushing in harder, causing her toes to curl.

Without warning he put his hands under her breasts and lifted, setting himself on his knees and pulling her back against his chest, sitting her on his shaft and plunging him in even deeper. A gurgled cry was all that was made this time, and when one of his hands trailed down to massage her ignored folds her head dropped back against his shoulder.

"Oh God…you're so deep…"

He pinched her clit between his thumb and forefinger and watched her eyes roll back in her head as she constricted around him. He hissed into the flesh of her shoulder. She felt…astounding. This time she didn't give him any warning, and planted her feet on the bed to start her own rhythm.

It was incredibly erotic watching her bounce herself on his erection as it sunk into her previously unused opening, her golden hair falling down her back, limp and glistening with sweat while he could see her arm moving as she manipulated her clit. He reached through her armpits to massage her breasts and she fell limp against him for a moment, pushing him as deep as he could go much to both of their delights. He rolled her nipples between his fingers as she started grinding back against him, moving the hard flesh within her. It caught her completely off-guard when he hit the spot within her sex that made her see stars through the walls connecting her openings, and she impaled herself on him. The combined stimulus was too much for her; she could only ride it out, clamp down on him in abandon, and urge him to join her as well.

"Kin!!"

She had never found her name so beautiful before, and when she felt him release inside her she moaned contently, collapsing back against him with him still so very deep inside her. They both sat there catching their breath, amazed at the new experience.

He ran a hand through her sweaty hair as he panted behind her, the other cupped over her womanhood in an effort to keep her pleasure smoldering in her. "I love you, Kin Kurosaki. My wife…"

She would never tire of hearing that, or feeling what he did to her, and she looked over her shoulder to smile at him lovingly. "I love you too, Kaien Kurosaki. My best friend, my lover, my husband…"

The rest of the night awaited them, and after that, they had the rest of their lives.

……

**Author's Notes:** Yeah, I'm terrible, I know. I'm sorry. I get so caught up writing other things it gets hard to remember about the other things I'm posting, especially considering I haven't been getting much feedback for these ones. Nonetheless, I'm happy that people are still reading this, and that they're still enjoying it. That gives it meaning to me. After this begin the epilogues I believe, and yes, I did say epilogue_s_; plural. I wrote more than one to show how some of the other characters have wrapped up their ends, and lastly one to ease into the story after this one.

Anyways, I hope you're still enjoying the story, and I hope you'll tell me about it!


	27. Epilogue 1 I Told You We'd Meet Again

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Warning**: Yes, there will be lemon. More Ichigo/Tatsuki!

**Epilogue 1 – I Told You We'd Meet Again**

…

It had been too long since she had moved like this.

She was a blur in the sandstorm she had invoked with the wailing winds thrashing around her from her zanpakutou. She was a sleek form of black and gold steel, gleaming in the moonlight casting down on her. The long gold fibers that formed the makeshift ponytail extending from the top of her helmet swung wildly in the wind, and even though there was no opening in the armor anywhere on her body, those around her were sure she was smiling widely. She looked even more amazing when it changed to the white and silver counterpart thanks to her White Transformation, but the original was no less awe-inspiring.

The winds changed direction and force abruptly and the slim, feminine body encased completely in her spiritual sword floated gracefully to the ground as the wind calmed immediately. Despite the metal, thanks to yet another unexplainable facet of the spiritual realm her movements weren't in the least bit hindered. She stretched her arms above her head and sighed happily with an almost metallic tinge to her voice while the Bankai vanished from her body and took its place behind her back as her sword in the next instant.

Tatsuki Kurosaki smiled brightly at the moaning and groaning Arrancars in various positions of disarray in the desert around her. "You almost had me there guys! Keep it up!"

She hadn't lost her touch.

All she got in response were some strained laughs and some rolled eyes. She had been bound and determined to work off the weight she had gained over her pregnancy as soon as she was able to. That was of course, the time after Ichigo's adamantly enforced standard recovery period after birth, but even with the lack of practice and loss of muscle she had bounded back stronger than before—to the chagrin and delight of her Arrancar followers. Both she and Ichigo found out very quickly that their newest little girl was going to be the same out of the womb as she was when she was in. She was the quietest child they had had so far, and one of the most adorable little things this side of the Garganta. Granted, they had had their share of sleepless nights so far, but nowhere near the amount they had had with Kaien, or even the twins.

It had taken her a few weeks to lose the weight and all the water retention brought on by the pregnancy, after the first month of doing nothing other than feeding their newest arrival and waiting for her body to recover from the traumatic experience of childbirth, but she was finally back to her former tip top condition. It may have taken other people longer, but her training was anything but normal and she wasn't Tatsuki Kurosaki for nothing. If Ichigo was right she had an even better figure than she had before, but that was probably because her breasts were still swollen with milk and her hips were bound to have widened at least some after giving birth again. With her physique now it was hard to tell whether that was from pregnancy or if she was just born looking that great. She had trained like hell to get her figure back, and she was reaping the rewards.

Love really did make a woman look better, in this case literally.

She brushed her choppy, neck-length hair back and with a wave of her hand she was falling through the sky of Karakura Town. She savored the warm wind around her as she fell; she had intimate knowledge of the element thanks to her zanpakutou. When she felt she had had enough she stabilized herself and landed on the spirit power she had forced under her feet. In the blink of an eye she was gone, and in another blink she was at her home and in her body. She felt her body tighten as it reacted to the slightly different figure of her soul than how she had left her body, and thanks to the ageless gigai material of her modified body it was sure to stay that way. Just to be safe, she had started her contraception again as soon as she was able to without causing problems with breastfeeding, and to make sure that she was prepared when she and Ichigo started being intimate again.

She knew where her husband was, it was hard not to tell where he was the moment anyone with the slightest bit of spiritual awareness entered the vicinity of the town, maybe even further. Since they had come back he had taken up patients at his father's clinic again, thus killing two birds with one stone. That is, if Tatsuki ever felt the need to train some more like she had for the past few weeks, Isshin could baby-sit while Ichigo did his shift, and vice-versa. There was no safer place for the child to be than with two captain level Soul Reapers, both of which had a constant eye on her budding reiatsu.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes she discreetly used Shunpo to get down to the clinic. They had owned a vehicle for the earlier years of their children's lives, when they were still trying to keep up the illusion they were normal, but now she felt no need to waste fuel when she could much more easily 'walk'. Besides, it was great exercise.

When she walked up to the door of the Kurosaki clinic and looked up at the sign that had remained unchanged even after all these years, a wave of nostalgia hit her off-guard. Who could have ever thought that one day Ichigo's name would be beside his father's on the door displaying the doctors on duty, and who could have ever imagined that in that future she, the once tomboy and his childhood friend, would end up as his loving wife? She smiled softly before reaching out and pushing the door open, another moment of their future they were about to write together. She wasn't about to be separated from her baby for too long either; even if she had wanted to get her old body back as fast as she could, being away from her little girl was almost as excruciating as it had to be if—more like when—the little girl woke up and her mother wasn't there.

She snickered at that. Well, it might be a bit worse for her than for their newest one, because unless she was hungry she was daddy's little girl all the way, though her mother was never ignored for long. Poor Isshin had to put up with her wrath if neither was available at the time, but Ichigo couldn't feel bad about that. That his barely three month old daughter beat up on his dad was something he found hilarious, even if it was all show. What goes around comes around, and they couldn't wait until she got older just to see what she would do to him then.

She was surprised to see the waiting room empty. Though the climate of Karakura Town made for very little customers even during the mild winter months as it was now, this year was proving to be exceptionally warm. She couldn't help but grin when a door opened down the hall and a middle-aged woman walked out, holding her blushing daughter's hand as the little girl held on to a large lollipop like it was a bouquet of flowers. The doctor they had been seeing walked out next and shook the woman's hand before ruffling the girl's hair and saying goodbye, while the girl went twenty newly discovered shades of red.

Ichigo just looked too damn good in that white jacket—this one reserved for the doctors of the Living World, and not that of a sword-bearing captain in the realm of the dead.

As the woman walked by she smiled and inclined her head politely, and just like that the room was empty. She could see the darkened look in her husband's eyes, and she smiled seductively. She was wearing a white shirt that did nothing to cover her sculpted stomach, and a black dress vest over that that made the shirt only look like short sleeves on the buttoned-up vest. Proud to have her thin body back, she wasn't about to wear any of her baggy cargo pants, and had instead opted for a pair of black three-quarter length shorts that clung to her skin like paint, which showed off her muscled legs down to the flip-flops on her feet. She knew how to keep the fine line between her femininity and her still slightly boyish tendencies, which usually resulted in outfits that would make any tomboy shine even next to what society called regular girls.

After watching his once-over of her with delight, she pouted coyly as she put a hand on her hip. "You're certainly a lady-killer aren't you, Dr. Kurosaki?" she stated jokingly. "That poor girl looked like she had first discovered what's actually so great about boys."

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head and she smiled when she saw the beginnings of a blush on his tanned cheeks.

Sauntering up to him, she ran a finger down his neck. "Though I can't blame her," she continued lowly. "You do look amazing in that jacket." He chuckled and raised her hand to his mouth to kiss the soft flesh. "Do I need an appointment or do you accept walk-ins, doctor? I think something's really wrong with me." Her voice was low and teasing, and Ichigo couldn't hold back the sexy grin no matter how hard he might have tried. After the birth of their daughter they had done nothing but touch each other to alleviate some of the stress of not being able to make love, but he knew that her body could handle it now.

"Is it an emergency?" He replied in a sensual whisper. His hot breath grazed her neck and she shivered.

"Oh yes, I can feel it getting worse already."

That sexy grin of his went even wider. "Then by all means, I'll see what I can do." With a casual pass behind her he slipped the sign on the door to read 'closed,' and directed her to one of the clinic's many patient rooms, where he silently locked the door behind them. One of the great things about running his own clinic was the ability to dictate when they were open.

She sat down on the examining table and the paper covering crinkled noisily in response, though neither of them paid it any mind. Her liquid onyx pools were boring into his molten amber and he could practically feel the tension in her body. She had viciously enforced their abstinence after she had given birth, both because of the physical dangers and, for a less medical reason, her dislike of her post-pregnancy body. It was a very real thing that some women went through, but she got through it thanks to her pride and confidence in herself and Ichigo's encouragement. With her acting like this however, she could tell he was restraining himself from tearing off her clothes right then, though she had it planned in the near future anyway.

He cleared his throat to try and focus himself. "What seems to be the problem?"

She had to give him credit, his voice was surprisingly stable and sounded very realistic to how he would act towards a regular patient, but she was going to take this production where she wanted it to go and so help her he wasn't going to stop it. She put on her best 'innocent' face, one Rukia had so kindly taught her, and pouted like a confused child. It took all she had to not burst into laughter when she saw the look on Ichigo's face. "I-I don't know, doctor. My body feels really…_hot._"

She would thank Rukia for those acting tips if it was the last thing she did.

Ichigo almost stumbled over his tongue, but he wasn't about to let Tatsuki win without a fight. It wouldn't be that much fun otherwise, though he had to admit his pants were already getting pretty tight. Unwittingly, he cleared his throat again. He put the back of his hand to her forehead and frowned like any good doctor. "Hmm, you do seem a bit feverish." He took the thermometer he held in his jacket pocket out and said, "Open up and put this under your tongue." He gulped heavily when she widened her mouth and chomped down on the end of the thermometer lustfully, rolling it around her mouth before she set it in place under her tongue.

He had almost forgotten how much his wife hated to lose.

The beeping of the thermometer snapped him out of her gaze, and she handed it to him without ever taking her eyes off his. He checked it exaggeratedly. "Nothing serious, maybe I should check your heart rate." He stumbled backwards when he looked up and saw Tatsuki had already removed her vest and shirt, leaving her clad in only her long shorts and bra.

"I thought my shirt was too tight for you to get under it," she explained calmly.

Doing his best to compose himself, Ichigo nodded in understanding as he removed his stethoscope from around his neck. "Thank you, now just keep breathing normally." The instant the instrument touched her chest he saw her inhale sharply and bite her bottom lip as goose-bumps broke out on her skin and she shivered.

"That's cold," she whimpered sensually.

There was no fighting it anymore, he was now painfully hard inside his pants and it wasn't getting any better. He could hear her accelerated heartbeat thundering against her chest and knew she was no better off. He removed the end from her chest and wrapped the stethoscope around his neck again while sighing dramatically.

"W-What is it?" She asked 'innocently.' She gulped when his eyes darted to hers and the fire she saw there made her shiver for a completely different reason.

He walked over to the examining table and spread her legs apart before stepping between them and pulling the apex of her thighs right against his, earning him a gasp he hadn't heard in too long. "With all due respect, ma'am," he said in a deathly silent whisper as he nibbled on her ear, "I can only diagnose you as aroused."

In a moment he had turned the tables on her and she had no will to try and turn them back. Not if he kept doing this. She could feel his hard erection pressing against her through their clothes and their little game was the last thing on her mind. She grinned as she nipped at his neck playfully. "That's curable isn't it, Dr. Kurosaki?"

He gave her one of his sexy grins back. "Hell yeah."

Then they were kissing, lips locked in a tangle as perfect as all those before it, a physical reminder of their need of each other. She moaned when his expert hands undid the clasp of her bra and she was left topless on the examining table, her large, sensitive nipples exposed to the open air hardening almost immediately as he rubbed the undersides of her breasts with soft strokes. He knew it wouldn't be good to be too rough because she was still breastfeeding, thus not completely back to normal and bound to be more than sensitive. He could tell just the gentle touches were enough on the overly responsive flesh, and her labored breathing and flushed cheeks attested to that.

He flicked open her shorts and within moments Tatsuki was squirming as his large fingers rubbed and prodded her wet folds. She was grateful to him for making sure she was ready—Retsu Ukitake had just done her postnatal check-up a few weeks ago—but right then there was only one thing she wanted and she was plenty ready for it now. She wriggled out of her shorts and panties and before they were even to her knees she had been set on the ground and spun around, now bent over the table rather erotically with her glistening slit in full view. She gasped at the suddenness of it all and moaned when she felt the naked shaft of her husband pressing against her inviting wetness.

With one thrust he was in her, and she had to quickly cover both hands over her mouth to muffle the scream that wanted so badly to jump from her lips. Finally, after all the careful touches and abstinence, they were allowed to be joined again. It was a long time in the coming, because truthfully Ichigo and Retsu had made sure her body was perfectly fine every week with their medically trained reiatsu to aid the healing process, and Orihime had made sure she healed anything—inside or out—that might have been injured during the birth. But, just to be on the safe side she had abided with what was standard in the Living World. Her body had long since healed, but now she felt comfortable in her skin again and that made all the difference.

Her body sang with delight as he pounded into her after months of nothing, and she squeezed him as hard as she could, like she didn't want to let him go again. She had missed this feeling so much, the fullness coupled with the absolute shock of having her whole body thrum with pleasure in a recurring wave that exploded every time his hips met hers. For once she didn't feel the need to smash herself against him, this time she allowed herself to revel in the feelings he evoked in her. It was an excuse at best, because as she was right then she couldn't move her legs if she wanted to, and she was being flattened to the padded table by his formidable size. He was determined to stay as close to her as he could, and she could feel his hard chest against her back as he kissed her shoulders softly.

He always made her feel so loved, and she tried her best to show that back. She could handle any pain, even the pain of childbirth, if it was for him. As her body cried out in the pleasure he was inflicting on her, any pain she might have ever felt was as distant as the heavens are from the earth.

Ichigo was in a similar state. He could be unusually patient from what people would initially think at first glance, but holding himself back for all that time with only minor touches to alleviate the urge had been close to hell. He reminded himself often of the pain she would have to go through when it was time for the baby to be born, and that was often what he used to keep himself under control. He had seen her bruised and bloody before, but the blood, sweat, and tears he had seen when she had given birth to Kaien, then the twins later, was an entirely different realm of pain that he couldn't even begin to comprehend. He could only be thankful she loved him enough to endure it, and the loving, proud grin she always had when she held their precious gift in her arms when it was all over made him love her even more.

Now, hearing her muffle her cries of bliss as he pounded into her and felt her inner muscles tighten around him, he felt too good for words. He was glad her libido hadn't suffered too much after pregnancy, like was very possible to happen with postpartum depression, but it was as fierce as ever and they had to take what little time they had alone with each other since the baby was still so young.

His entire body was feeling the effects of her, and in a desperate attempt to get closer he sped up and nearly lost it when a prolonged, shrill cry was muted under her hands. "Tatsuki…" The sound of her name on his lips earned another moan, and he knew he was too close to do anything now. "Tatsuki…" She clamped down on him as his name broke through her mouth and she was too busy clawing at the table to quiet it anymore. She came around him, hard and fast, and he fell off that edge after her with a shout she hadn't heard in a long time. "Tatsuki!!!"

Hearing him moan her name was one thing, hearing him scream it was something else.

She fell limp against the table as she panted for breath, and he had to admit the sight of her leaning over the examining table with her shorts and panties around her knees as she gasped for air in aftershocks of her orgasm was really quite erotic. He pulled out of her even though after waiting so long he was still hard, and reached over to the desk on the wall for some tissues to clean himself off. She tensed before melting back into the table when he started cleaning her oversensitive flesh too, and before he knew it she had twisted herself around and started kissing him.

Her tongue fought against his as fiercely as ever, and it was doing nothing to help his arousal wane like he wanted it to. Isshin was a very careful babysitter, but they were in an examining room and they really shouldn't stay away from her for too long.

"Tatsuki…" he warned half-heartedly. Her name seemed to be the only thing he could say right then, but he knew his tone would tell her what he meant, and hopefully his willful wife understood what he was trying to tell her.

She grinned cattily as she stepped out of her shorts and panties and stood in front of him gloriously naked. "I think we can be safe leaving her with her grandpa a bit longer."

He was about to retort, but before he could she had fallen to her knees and engulfed his erection in her mouth, turning any words he wanted to say into a gurgle caught in his throat. She hummed happily and the vibration went straight through him like a bullet. Having just climaxed, like her he was very sensitive at the moment, and the way she was swirling her tongue around the engorged tip told him she knew that. His knees wanted to give out on him, but he wouldn't let them no matter how damn _good_ it felt.

She could determine the pressure at will, and when she stopped to lick at the sensitive underside his legs trembled. Every time she did this to him it drove him wild, to be able to look down on her gorgeous face like _that_ was just something else that he couldn't explain. It was just so _hot._

"Oh…damn…" he breathed out as he fought the urge to tangle his hands in her hair. She hummed again when his hand caressed down the side of her face lovingly, and to her surprise he pulled away from her and picked her up easily as he set her down forcefully on the padded table. When she looked at his eyes a whole new sensation rushed through her, one she loved. His eyes were yellow as the sun, and had darkness as black as the abyss lining them as they stared at her heatedly.

Before she could do anything his hands had groped her ass with just enough force for her to feel it before they scooted her forward while he knelt down and started licking the outer folds of her sex. He knew she was fully healed, but he wasn't about to put her at any risk, however miniscule that may be. He wasn't stupid though, and knew the surrounding skin of the womanhood and thighs was just as responsive to loving touches.

She was squirming on the bench now. She knew why he wasn't sticking his tongue into her, but his languid licks and soft touches were driving her absolutely crazy. He was drawing designs on the throbbing flesh of her outer folds and tracing his hands down her thighs like a master masseuse. Even without actual penetration she was feeling it, feeling it so strongly her legs were quivering on his shoulders and she was biting her fist to keep herself quiet.

Years of marriage and he was still learning things about her body, but he didn't mind that in the least, and neither did she. She moaned loudly even through her grit teeth when he followed the trail of her juices with his tongue, down to her other opening which was now glistening with her fluids. She hissed when he turned his attention there and she could feel herself getting even wetter. It wasn't the first time they had done this, in fact she didn't mind it at all. All she knew was she wanted him, and right then.

"Ichigo," she purred hotly as he looked up at her. "No more. I need you _now_."

That damn infuriatingly sexy grin broke out on his face, but she didn't care. They were both more than ready, and when he stood up and pulled her to him he slid into her easily. She gasped at the sudden pressure, and it only got better as he pushed into her more every second. When she felt him stop she knew he was entirely within her, and she felt each and every inch. From this position he felt even larger, and she moaned raggedly when he pulled out to thrust back in with twice the force.

After so long it was like the nerves had never been used, and being so wonderfully assaulted in her ass right after finally making love with him was a sensation overload she hadn't felt in what seemed like forever. That might have just been the pregnancy talking, but to her that's what it felt like. The pressure couldn't be described, it was different from her womanhood but at the same time the pleasure was all too real, and jerking her muscles in ways she wasn't consciously telling them to.

He was so deep inside her, and his pace was so gloriously rough after the long months of careful touches and nothing altogether that she was feeling it even more intensely than before. She would have screamed out her pleasure for the whole neighborhood to hear had his lips not been plastered to hers in a violent kiss that she had missed so much she could have cried. He had obviously missed his regularly rough and tough wife just as much as she had, though arguably most of the caution was enforced on her _by_ him.

She raked her fingers over his chest, reveling in the hard muscles rippling under his clothes as he thrust himself into her with increasing force, making it all the harder for her to keep her cries quiet. She could feel everything, was feeling everything, and all the blissful sensations were numbing her mind in sheer euphoria.

Ichigo wasn't totally quiet though either, but as he blocked her cries with his mouth he also blocked his own. The pleasure was overwhelming, and not having to worry about hurting her was even better. He could feel everything roll through his body like a wave of ever-increasing desire and spurned him to increase his pace. She never once objected, in fact she egged him on as loudly as she could without alerting anyone to what they were doing.

They were both feeling the culmination gradually building in their bodies, and he knew he wasn't going to last as long as she was, he could feel it. When he reached down to rub her clit furiously, she bit down on his shoulder harshly, uncaring of the taste of the fabric just so long as it kept her scream from resounding throughout the clinic.

She tightened down on him harshly as her muscles convulsed in orgasm and that was the last straw for him. With a breathy moan he too relinquished himself to the abyss over the edge and she moaned as she felt herself being filled with her lover's warmth. She felt so full, and she had to admit she loved the feeling.

"God…that was…great…" she whispered hoarsely and grabbed his face for another intense kiss while she rocked herself into his still hard erection, sizzling the heat inside her.

"It's been too long," he gasped as he leant his forehead on hers. She took it as an invitation and he was perfectly content to keep kissing her as they stayed connected.

"It was worth it."

He smiled softly when he thought of the little pink bundle of joy sleeping in one of the upstairs rooms. "Hell yeah," he agreed in a loving whisper.

The former tomboy grinned warmly before tugging his stethoscope and pulling his face back to hers.

……

Ichigo woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of soft whimpering. Tatsuki was still asleep beside him and since he was up already he quietly removed himself from their bed and put a pair of sweatpants on before silently making his way to his youngest daughter's room.

He could see her moving form between the crib bars before he could actually see her, and when his face came into view she let loose a delighted squeal. It was almost like he could hear her say _'It's nice to see you again.'_ She had incredible night vision, just like their other kids, and he could see her rusty orange eyes glimmer in the gentle glow of her nightlight as her tiny body moved happily.

He sighed. "We're all in bed and you're ready to play huh? Why does that not surprise me?" he asked with a wide grin as he tickled her belly softly, to her happiness.

He tenderly picked up the small body of his daughter and she quieted almost instantly, gazing up into his amber eyes with silent joy. Her long, blackish purple hair was long even for kids a month older than her, and it caught the soothing light coming from her oceanic nightlight and set it into a soft glow. He couldn't help but smile adoringly as he ran a hand over her soft strands while he cradled her against his naked chest.

She had hushed as soon as she was against his body, and now the infant was nestled comfortably into him as his warm arms held her surely. It was almost unsettling how quickly she calmed down, and soon her light, steady breathing was all he heard. Looking down on her sleeping face he felt love radiate through his entire body like a slow-burning fire, and carefully he sat down in the comfortable rocking chair they had put in her room.

She didn't so much as stir.

"I love you, my little angel. Sleep well…Senna."

.

_~I told you we'd meet each other again.~_

.

When Tatsuki went into the room in the morning she saw her husband, gently cradling their daughter in his arms as he slept soundly. She tiptoed over and gave both a soft kiss on the head before quietly exiting the room.

She shut the door with a happy smile on her face.

The coming years were going to be just as much of an adventure as the rest of their lives, and now she only had one large goal.

What was it?

Keep their little girl from meeting Kenpachi and Kuukaku's little boy when she was four.

THE END…for now.

……

**Author's Notes:** First epilogue down, more to come. The lemon was done at a request from one of my first reviewers, xSTALKERx, and it had had been too long since I had written Ichi/Tats being that this story mostly revolved around the children. I had the idea for their third daughter in mind ever since I came up with Tatsuki's ongoing pregnancy through the story, so I was glad I finally got to show everyone my plan regarding that. Anywho, on to the next one! Reviews always appreciated!


	28. Epilogue II Empress and Emperor

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

…

**Epilogue 2 – Empress of Eternity, Emperor of the Ephemeral Blossom**

…

~Six Years Later~

.

He could honestly say that during his entire life so far and everything he had ever been through, there were only a few other instances where he had ever been this confused. He didn't know what to do.

He, the great Byakuya _Kuchiki_ of all people, didn't know what to do!!

He had never been one to seek advice, nor was he certain that if he _did_ ask that that person would even take him seriously at this point. He wasn't blind, or deaf, and it would seem that over the past few years his fellow Shinigami had forgotten to lower their voices in his presence. Did they honestly believe that just because he was a noble that he couldn't understand their body language!? It was coming on again, he could feel it, and the stoic captain actually allowed himself the luxury of rubbing his temples while he was in the confines of his own home.

If he was a lesser man, he would probably be banging his head against a wall, shouting 'why' over and over again, but he was Byakuya Kuchiki, and Byakuya Kuchiki did not do that under _any_ circumstances. This…was close though.

He couldn't understand it, he couldn't understand anything anymore. He was a captain of the Thirteen Squads, a man in control of one of the most powerful zanpakutou's in Soul Society, a man envied for his heritage and appearance, and a widower who had loved his wife as much as any man was humanly capable of. To this day he prayed in front of her memorial every morning before he began his day, and the feelings he had for her had not waned in the least. Yet why, _why_ was he feeling something for someone other than Hisana??

It tore at his organs, ate at his stomach like acid, his throat felt like he had inhaled dry ice, and his mind even went as far as depriving him from sleep in its hyperactive calculations. What was even worse than all of this though was that his heart wasn't bothering him at all. It was like out of his entire body his heart was the only one relaxing on a beach chair, scoffing at all the other agonized organs with remarks like 'you're still worried about that?'

It was absolutely infuriating that his own heart wasn't telling him the answer he wanted to hear!

Hisana's memory was as sacred as his sword to him, and yet even when he looked at her younger sister he saw something he didn't want to admit. Life…went on. Change was inevitable, the only constant in all the worlds no matter how arrogant Center Forty-Six might ever try to be. He had known his adopted sister, at least as well as one can know someone when one is terrified to look at their face because of a resemblance too heartbreaking to endure, but that is what outside sources are for.

Yet she changed. She was sent to the Living World, and even when he was sent to get her the woman he encountered was not the one that had left Soul Society. There was something burning in her eyes, something permeating her small body with pride not bestowed by the Kuchiki name. At first it had disgusted him, she was acting like a _human_, showing way too many emotions for one bearing the Kuchiki title, but as time went on it happened to more people. One by one his fellow Shinigami were _infected_ as he could only call it, and the Society had changed for the _better_ because of it.

He wasn't devoid of emotion, he knew them all too well. He had thought they had died when Hisana had, but that didn't stop him from being able to recognize them. He couldn't explain what hit him when Renji and Rukia presented his newly-born nephew to him, and barely even a year later a niece as well. Rukia had gone from a silent sister, to proud woman, to glowing wife, and then a loving _mother_. She had changed, and embraced change.

He didn't want to change. He was a noble, a symbol of strength, beauty, and order. Once upon a time he wouldn't have cared, once upon a time he remembered having a temper he wasn't afraid to _show_ people, but life seldom allows gold things to stay. He had loved Hisana, did _still_ love Hisana, but she too had been taken away, just like his parents. For him, change only brought pain.

And yet now, facing this as he had for the past two years, he was afraid of the answer he would come to, afraid of what he might find buried deep under the snow of his heart. In this not even Senbonzakura was any help, because she was just like him in most ways, as is the case with most zanpakutous despite their gender. She seemed to agree with his heart though, she knew it better than anyone, though like all zanpakutous she refused to give him the answer directly. She could only help guide him along; he would have to find the answers he sought on his own.

He had kept up his stoic nature, unchanging even through the six years when she never stopped. At least, he had thought he had.

Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, month after month, she had slowly gotten under his skin. He had always felt something, but truth be told he thought it was the feelings of a teacher for their student, being that he had never taken on anyone to train personally before and so had no expectation of what he might feel. He had naturally thought that he could endure it like he had the rest of his life. He could easily cast off concern for her as the feelings of a trainer to their pupil, could easily dismiss the desire to see her as the wish to constantly better a student; it was all explainable. Then, as those minutes turned into hours and hours into days, as those days turned into months which gradually turned into years, that student suddenly seemed to change into a woman in the blink of an eye.

That was when he felt it, truly felt all those feelings for what they really were. The one feeling he knew as that which had caused him the most joy as well as the most pain. The one formerly reserved for only Hisana. He felt that traitorous emotion in his heart bubble up from under the snow when he looked at her, uncovered from the guise he had put over it.

And it terrified him.

He, Byakuya Kuchiki, was _terrified._

From that point on confusion had swamped his soul, and he had spent every waking moment justifying himself since then. With that the confusion only got worse, because he refused to admit that he had felt that emotion around her, he refused to believe it. She was tactful, he had to admit that, but he could recognize the look in her eyes, he had seen it in Hisana's every day when she was still with him. That, and she had a part to herself that seemingly had no concept of the word 'shame.'

He chuckled lightly, and froze solid upon doing so. It had gotten to the point where he could…_laugh_…just by thinking about her. Both of her even.

Outwardly it would appear that he was the same, but he had been going through an inner battle for close to two full years. Ever since she had legally become an adult and nothing but personal barriers stood between them.

He was alarmed at how little of those he found he had left. She wasn't an accomplice, an acquaintance he met occasionally in his everyday life. She wasn't like everyone else; she had never felt the kind of inferiority he used to keep everyone at arm's length. He was a leader, a loner since Hisana, and it wasn't that he didn't withhold his usual persona from her, it was just that she didn't let herself be affected by it. She had been a _presence_ in his life for years now, even when she didn't need to be near him she had chosen to stay, but never too close, just…close enough. It was to the point where he wasn't surprised if she was at his division, if she took things on that would make his life easier even if he didn't find out about it until later. The only thing he could equate it to was slowly being worn down, that was the only explanation he could find for himself behaving in such a way.

Mentally and emotionally he was exhausted, but he wouldn't allow it to hinder his responsibilities. Dressed in his kimono and haori, and of course his Kenseikan and scarf, he set out for the Sixth Division. At least when he was working his mind was freed of its torment in the monotony of it all, and the chance of a mission was too good for him to ignore. He had forgone the chance to choose a replacement lieutenant when Renji had been promoted to captain, and so he was free to do any mission the division was appointed, whether it required a captain or not. He could trust the paperwork that didn't require his signature to his subordinates; they had been trained well after all, he didn't accept ineptitude in his division.

When he reached the main entrance to the division headquarters, he was stopped dead by a sound that a mere decade ago would never have been heard in the Sixth Division.

Laughter.

There were people laughing inside, happily conversing even though he was usually the first into the office, though admittedly that had started changing over the past two years. He didn't need to open the door to know who was making them laugh, probably talking about some inane thing or the other, because he knew that voice. It haunted his dreams. It was the last person he wanted to see, and nowadays she was usually never alone except in the rare case that her other half had gotten tired, or bored, as was more likely. What was worse was he wasn't just confused over _her_, he was confused over _them._ Then again, the case could be argued that she and her white counterpart were one and the same, so she was still one person.

Yet another part of the confusion that plagued him.

He sighed inaudibly and mentally prepared himself before he opened the door, and naturally all the heads in the room turned to see who the new arrival was. The first thing most of them did was widen their eyes before quickly bowing in respect to their superior, but his eyes only took in her as she turned to look at him, gracing him with one of her radiant smiles before she remembered her manners and bowed slightly to her teacher. Just his luck, she wasn't alone today either, and the carbon-copy mimicked her actions with a far more dangerous smile on her face.

For a second his mind played a trick on him and what stood before him were the two harmless fourteen year-olds in barely matured bodies, a threat but not fatal. Back then they had only had their personalities going for them, and a cuteness that anyone other than him could recognize. Even if he had been ready to try life after Hisana back then, he couldn't have been bothered to consider them. A threat, but not fatal. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then he blinked and reality took its place.

Now, they were fatal.

Even if she could strike him breathless, he wasn't about to show it.

She had only grown a few inches over the years, and that was one thing that probably wasn't going to change any time soon. It was enough that they matched their mother in height and had been given the privilege to annoy the now shorter Kin, but had that just been it he wouldn't have been too affected. She, and therefore they, had allowed her hair to grow like her grandmother's, and now she had incredible orange hair that flowed to the middle of her back. Even when she was fourteen she had still looked more like a child than a woman, but that had changed all too quickly in his mind. As she grew her body evened itself out, proportioning her into that of a woman he could never have imagined she'd turn into.

Her innocent amber eyes were now framed by thick orange lashes and fit into a face more suited to that of a model than a warrior, and yet he had seen time and again her fierceness in battle. Her smooth skin looked much too soft for a calloused fighter, and her full, pink lips looked even more inviting. Though she clearly held strength in her body, her figure hadn't suffered at all. Like her mother, it pronounced it. It had caused him no end of torment when he had first realized she had started wearing her kimono like Rangiku Hitsugaya, and it had only gotten worse when he also saw that she had the bust to make it work. Every day it took all of his discipline not to follow that tempting V in her kimono to the pale flesh it revealed.

He was still taller than her, and he couldn't help but imagine what it would feel like if that supple body was pressed against him as he made those deliciously full lips of hers to swell…

If he was a lesser man, he might have taken up banging his head on the wall again.

Instead, he expressionlessly swallowed his emotions and graced those in the room with a small nod in greeting. "Good morning, Masaki, Ikasam. You look well today."

They both glowed under his praise, even if it was minor. Soon after, the beautiful white counterpart mock-scowled at him. _**"Jeez, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Ikki before you start doing it?"**_ She asked playfully as she leaned herself forward too look at him with her head crooked upwards.

As much as he might not look it, Byakuya Kuchiki was in fact a red-blooded male, and it was only thanks to his intense self-discipline that he resisted looking past her eyes to see the cleavage she was exposing rather tauntingly. Unwittingly, he gave her a small smile before walking past them and towards his office, whereas he had meant to just walk past them wordlessly.

Of course, it wasn't long before he heard the patter of steps behind him and as he stepped into his office, Masaki and Ikki slipped in behind him, not the least bit intimidated by his silent display before. They had gotten used to that a _long_ time ago. He sat down and twined his fingers together on his desk as he looked at them, unnoticeably waiting for their next antics.

"_**Aw com'on, I know you smiled a bit there! It couldn't be too hard to say it, right?"**_

His glare was a conditioned response, and for once he actually felt bad when he saw her flinch back like she had been hit. "I…I apologize, that was uncalled for." It was one of the few he had done in the nearly two centuries he had been alive. When his chest warmed at the sight of their smiling faces, Byakuya almost contemplated that wall idea again. He was _not_ supposed to feel that.

"Nah, everyone knows Ikki's as annoying as they come. Sensei _should_ put her in place every now and then," Masaki said happily, and Ikki, in all her maturity, stuck her tongue out at her host.

Both of their voices made his insides tremble, and Byakuya Kuchiki did not tremble. He forced himself to keep a calm face. It was too early in the morning for this.

"_**Still, he won't even give me a reason! No offence, but your name really sucks said backwards."**_ Masaki had to give her that; Ikki was a nice compromise. She cast those molten gold Hollowized eyes on him and he could only hope his façade was still in place.

He let none of this show, as was his way, and he silently pulled some files from the side of his desk to distract himself from looking directly at them. "I find nothing about you to fit that description, that is all."

It took a while for that to sink in, but when it did both women turned a shade of red even he found quite amusing. He realized very quickly he shouldn't have said that, because then the voluptuous body was sauntering towards him like an animal that had cornered its prey. Masaki was trying to look uninterested and failing horribly, and all too soon she had inched her way forward as well.

"_**Did you just call me pretty?"**_ Leave it to Ikki to push the limit.

Byakuya was struck speechless. She had always been forward, but this was further than either of them had ever gone before.

As it turns out, he had _no_ idea.

"B-Byakuya-sensei," Masaki stuttered embarrassedly. The sight of her, flushed and embarrassed made his pulse quicken for some reason. She took a deep breath to steady herself and when she opened her eyes to look at him again, he saw a determination he had seen many times in her father. "B-Byakuya-sensei, do you know how I feel about you, how _we_ feel about you?"

Indeed, they had never been this forward. This was…this was a confession.

He did his best to keep up his emotionless mask as his insides continued in the confusion he had hoped to forget by doing work. He didn't want to hear it, if he heard it…he just might recognize it. He could see their eyes were hopeful though, and warm to the extent of a lover. Before their eyes they saw his unfeeling steel-grey orbs soften in quiet torment and their combined hearts cracked. He didn't mean to say it, but when their sensitive ears picked up the whisper of 'Hisana,' it was all they could do not to run out of the room crying.

Imagine his surprise when he saw their warm, understanding eyes were brimmed with tears as they smiled at him softly, truly like that of a lover, or even a wife. He simply couldn't believe it when they each reached forward a hand and put it over his—nearly shaking—entwined hands.

"My dad said something to us when Senna was born, Sensei. He said that love doesn't divide the heart, it multiplies it. I love my little sister, but does that mean I love my parents, my siblings, or anyone else any less?" Masaki stopped momentarily to wipe her eyes before smiling that kind, understanding smile at him again, and little by little Byakuya felt his body quiet in a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time. All but his heart, and at last it was revealing the horrible, terrifying, beautiful truth to him.

"_**Of course not. When you find something new to love it doesn't divide the love you already have, it doubles the size of your heart so you can give even more. We know you'll never stop loving Hisana-sama, but…that doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to love someone else too."**_

For once, his stoic visage couldn't contain his surprise, and with wide eyes he stared at the two sets looking back at him. He couldn't deny it anymore; he had wanted to, he had tried to, he had done everything he possibly could to make it not be so, but his heart wasn't lying to him, and neither was his mind anymore. He no longer felt confused, he _couldn't_ feel confused, not after that emotion had burst forth like water from a broken dam throughout his body, quieting all the inner torment he had been going through in its cleansing waters.

Silently, Ikki retreated back inside her host and left Masaki alone with Byakuya, though she felt and saw everything from within as well. She couldn't stop looking at his eyes. People had teased her, saying her crush wouldn't last long, but she was now twenty years old and her love for him had never left, not once. It had only grown.

The years had gone by in a blur. School, graduation, real life; she was living in a division apartment—which technically had been her home all along—before she knew where the time had gone. She knew time, she and Ikki controlled it at will, and never before had it seemed to go so fast. She spent as much time with him as she could, even if it was under the excuse of training. Both parts of her loved him; they had different way of showing it, but they did. She still didn't know why she had fallen for him, but she had. She had a theory though.

She had never been alone. She was a twin from birth, she and Tsukiyomi had a relationship they could have with no other. Her parents were both alive and well, and they had never made her feel the least bit unloved. Even when she became aware of her self as a Shinigami, no sooner had that happened had she discovered an aspect of herself that was it's own person. She was honestly and truly never alone, and she loved that. She had gotten as far as she had today because of the people supporting her. The concept of loneliness was one she feared, one she couldn't understand.

Yet he was alone. Even as she watched him in a crowd she could see that he was alone. Among hundreds of subordinates, among thousands of admirers, even among the noble houses he was set apart. He was alone. He had had parents once, and they had died, leaving a son too young to have the weight of responsibility crush his naïve shoulders. He had loved once too, like any man, and yet she as well had fallen to the nemesis of his life: death. The thought had been forced into him that attachment could only mean more pain, and so he had cut off his emotions, buried his heart under ice and became the noble everyone expected him to be. He was alone, but she knew, deep, deep down…he didn't want to be.

She knew out of the whole world, this man was the only one right for her. She had found her soul mate when she was ten years old, and the initial crush had only grown into a burning fire in her heart over the years. They balanced each other, they both had experiences the other could never understand, they both had things they could teach each other, their very existences complimented each other. She counted herself and Ikki as one, and together the three of them would be what she suspected he had always wanted to be. Happy. He had known it before, and knowing she was the only one that could bring it back to him made her chest warm. It wasn't pity, she would smack anyone that called it that. She couldn't describe her love, it was something that had come to define her. She and Ikki were of one heart, and they both had different things to offer.

They enjoyed every moment around him, and though they suspected he didn't know it, he had started changing around them. Every once in a while, maybe when no one was looking or they were talking, the corners of his lips would edge up in a small smile that they both knew he would only show to them. His grey eyes would soften for the smallest instant and they could sense that he cared for them, even if he didn't know it himself. They could live for those moments, but they wanted more. They wanted to heal him…so that they could love all of him, and so that all of him could love them back.

And now they were at that final step.

Ikki was letting her have this moment, though she knew her white half was as much a part of her as she herself was of her white doppelganger. This was _their_ moment, _their_ step. She leaned forward over his desk to look directly into his eyes.

"Byakuya Kuchiki…I, _we_, love you." She had finally said it.

The beautiful woman hadn't addressed him as a captain, or as her teacher, nor even as one in a higher social position than her. She had merely confessed to him by his name, a man on no different ground than she as a woman. Her heart was in her throat as she watched his steel-grey eyes soften, and with a gentle hand he cupped the side of her face.

"You were barely ten years old when we met, a little girl that shouldn't even know what a sword is, let alone bear one. I don't know which one surprised me more, the sight of that little girl with a Hollow's mask on her face, or the twin summoned by that mask. To this day I don't know what possessed me to train those four kids…but ten years later and…" This was the first time he had ever spoken to her like this, probably the first time he had even spoken to _anyone_ like this since the death of Hisana, and Masaki found her throat closing up on her. He looked at her and heat shocked through her so quickly she almost flinched at what she saw in his eyes. "…and now the women both a good century my junior have just taught me a lesson none but they could teach."

She really was like her father. The man had taught him more things than he would ever truly realize, and it was a trait he had passed on to his children.

The tears now wanted to come for a very different reason. She was so happy she could barely contain herself. "What's age got to do with it?" She asked semi-sarcastically. In the spiritual realm it meant absolutely nothing. Her smile was too wide for it to be anything but her regular humor.

In front of her eyes, right in front of her very eyes, with his large hard still holding fast on the side of her face like one who had found a long lost love, Byakuya Kuchiki _smiled_. It wasn't a small grin, or a toothy, face-stretching smirk, just a loving, grateful smile that reached his eyes and set them into a warm glow, something she guessed he had only ever shown to one other human being.

"Indeed." He gave a soft, one-breath chuckle. "If we are going to do this, we are doing this…properly. May I assume your confession to be an agreement to courtship?" He almost laughed again at the look on her face, but that may have been a bit too much.

"Does…does this mean…?"

"I will always love Hisana, like you said, but I do love you as well, Masaki Kurosaki. Even a heart covered in ice and steel can only last so long." He had actually said it, and the funny thing was he wasn't afraid to. He _would_ always love Hisana, but he couldn't deny his love for Masaki and Ikasam either. It would take some getting used to, especially considering she was essentially twins, but they could worry about that if it ever became a problem.

He could feel her tears on his hand as she smiled radiantly at him, and just like before he felt his chest warm. Happiness. He had almost forgotten what that felt like, and now he could recognize it again.

From now on, his life was going to change, but he would face it and everything the future brought with her at his side. It was a nice thought.

"I believe this is one deal…" she started seductively, "…that should be sealed with a kiss."

There was no argument there.

Their lips met hesitantly, a first for Masaki—with a man, she and Ikki were more like lovers than sisters, because technically they weren't. His lips weren't like she had thought they would be, they were much, much better. He guided them skillfully, though it was gentle, soft, tentative even. She wanted so much more, but she was willing to wait. This was his first relationship, his first kiss since Hisana, and at that moment she didn't know if anyone could love someone more than she loved him. When they split apart she almost whined, but then he held her hand softly and she couldn't care less.

They had all the time in the world, and now they could learn about each other not as teacher and student, but as a man and woman.

.

~One Year Later~

.

Kuchiki's were famous for never leaving anything they started unfinished, and Kurosaki's had a reputation of tenacity as well. The initial relationship itself had caused a huge shock throughout Seireitei, but this, this wasn't surprising at all.

With the slip of a ring Masaki Kurosaki officially became Masaki Kuchiki, and the roar of applause went unheard by the two as they sealed the commitment they had made to each other with a kiss that meant so much more than the traditional.

Now the future had even more possibilities than before, but if Byakuya was sure of one thing it was this:

The future would never stop changing, and they were in for one hell of a ride.

.

THE END…for now.

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**Author's Notes:** Yes, I made Byakuya one of the luckiest suckers in any plane of existence, but hey, after a life like his I thought he deserved a happy ending. I'm going to try getting these last chapters up quickly so I can start on the next story, because I've been so sidetracked writing my Rosario+Vampire one I've barely written four more chapters on it. Still, including the ones left from this story…that's twenty more chapters I need to post. Wow. Well, I hope everyone keeps reading and enjoying! That's what I do this for!


	29. Epilogue III Chivalry Is Overrated

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

**Warning:** Yes, this chapter contains lemon, and with it another couple is confirmed.

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**Epilogue 3 – Chivalry Is Overrated**

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~Six Years Later~

…

She honestly couldn't believe how much he had filled out.

At fourteen they had both been roughly the same size, and thankfully she and Masaki had both grown to their mother's height over the next year. It had felt a bit awkward to look down on her boyfriend, but his growth was more prolonged than hers. It had taken another full year for him to be able to look her straight in the eyes again, but after that seemingly overnight he had grown to his grandfather's five-foot-ten inch frame and the eight inch difference between their heights was suddenly _very_ noticeable.

Not only that, but Sora, unlike his older brother and father, wasn't against learning how to use a sword. He had been determined to learn how to wield one, and naturally Tsukiyomi wasn't about to let anyone else spar with her boyfriend other than her. She knew physically she was far stronger than him, but she tried to hold back as much as she could. That didn't stop her from feeling awful whenever she caught him without his shirt on and could see the giant welts on his otherwise pale flesh from her shinai. They had both thought kendo sticks were the best thing to use initially, but she always seemed to forget that he was only human, even though some of the things he could do couldn't even be done by the most powerful of otherworldly beings.

Now, she could see why he had wanted to. For a naturally long-ranged fighter, his body was unusually sculpted to the peak of human fitness, and she could see the hard sinew ripple under his skin with every movement he made as he dodged and weaved between the hordes of Hollows they were fighting against. He was wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt, like he usually did, but the sleeves were rolled up around his elbows and it was unbuttoned, revealing those muscles for all to see. He was truly a sight to see, a lean, orange-haired man—his hair gelled back like always—with his shirt billowing in the wind, still looking as intelligent as ever in his wire-frame glasses as he flew swiftly through his opponents with a blue blade in his hand. Thanks to their training, even though he still had the athletic look of his father he _was_ bulkier, especially in the muscle department.

With the onset of his growth, naturally his rings had needed to be sized, but he had found a way to make his version of Tsubaki into a sword as well as a projectile, and he used that in conjunction with the buckler-sized Santen Kesshun he could make on his left wrist. He now had a sword and a shield like any knight of old, though his could easily be turned back into their usual forms. He had always been reminded of how different he was from his father and older brother, so he had decided to take advantage of that. They couldn't fight like this, and he could only partially fight like them. The only Quincy techniques he could use were Hirenkyaku and the silver tubes, otherwise his Quincy powers just went to amplify his Shun Shun Rikka abilities. It was thanks to that that he had been able to create the sword-sized Tsubaki, though it didn't take much to shrink down his Santen Kesshun. He was now able to compensate for his inabilities by being able to change from long-range to short-range at will.

She could admire his prowess, and was proud of his strength, even if it was restricted to human limitations. Since he had gone to Soul Society way back when, his soul's aging had already been slowed, so it was only a matter of him wanting to get rid of his body before he joined her in near immortality. It was a waste in her mind to let such a beautiful body degrade, and she had already had her body modified like her parents'. She didn't want to experience old age when clearly her parents hadn't liked it very much. He was a fine specimen of a male, and ever since she had gained her emotions back she had been surprised by how much she could feel her love actually _grow_ over the years.

Her mood soured at that. They had been together since they were fourteen, and now they were both _twenty_. She damned his chivalry to every hell she could think of more often than she would care to admit, because to this day he still hadn't slept with her, and she had certainly been open to the idea. Every day she saw his body become more refined under their training, her arousal became harder and harder to control. Regardless of getting command back over her emotions, she still edged more to the side of the inner-Hollow no matter what kind of control she gained. It was only thanks to that sense of normalcy that she had been able to restrain herself from ripping off his clothes and simply having her way with him. Had she still been her old self, there wasn't a doubt in her mind she would have done it already. She would have hated herself later, but she would have done it.

She loved him, it had gotten all the more apparent over the years they had been together and she couldn't forget that it had been because of him that she had found her control. That wasn't to say she loved him because she felt indebted to him, but in the back of her mind she would always be grateful he had come to try and save her and her brother that day. She had been around beings that had some of the finest physiques the worlds had ever known, yet she appreciated his far more. Probably because she had been there to help him, watch him grow and harden over time. She could appreciate his concern for his body, and the fact that he was still human made it all the more awe-inspiring. His weapons were the only thing spiritual about him, otherwise every feat he performed was perfectly capable of being performed by another human being, if they had trained as much as he had naturally. That only accounted for when he wasn't flying around with Hirenkyaku; _that_ was one thing he could do with his body that no normal person could.

She could feel her undergarments getting damp and snarled under her breath as she put a fist through the mask of her latest foe. She simply wanted to watch him and nothing else, but the fight they were in with a colony of Hollows made that second on the priority list. She _wanted_ him, why the hell couldn't he see that!? She knew his lineage though, so she doubted he would take her up on her desires unless she had a ring on her finger, unlike nearly every other male in existence. She loved him, chivalry and all, but sometimes it was a royal pain in the ass. She was grateful for it too in a way, because he _did_ know she was more Hollow than zanpakutou or Shinigami, and he always kept in mind that she was more impulsive than anyone was rightfully expected to be. She had always given off the aura of a calm monarch, but since she had gained control of her emotions and hadn't needed to fear expressing herself, he had saved her from embarrassing situations more than once.

If she hadn't fallen in love with him, she would have probably lost her virginity by now, but in the end she was glad she had saved it. She wasn't new to exploring her body, but she wanted _him_ to do it so much more. She felt like she was being left behind.

Her younger twin, the one person on the earth she had a link unlike no other with, had presented herself before their parents with none other than _Byakuya Kuchiki_ at her side. Her father had nearly killed himself laughing, and her mother had, for the most part, covered her mouth to keep from following suit. Obviously the thought of having the older Shinigami as a son-in-law had amused him to no end. Naturally, being called father-in-law by the stoic noble had had the same effect. It was just too funny for words.

It had been better than some reactions. For example, when Rukia had gotten the news she had fainted on the spot, and Renji had nearly choked to death on the food he had been eating. She herself hadn't been too surprised; she and Masaki always talked every night, they were supports for each other, and she knew it was only a matter of time. That hadn't stopped her from grinning like the devil incarnate when she was told the news. With Byakuya a part of the family, she could annoy both him and her sister with no fear of repercussions.

The one thing she looked forward to the most? Getting their kids—whenever that may happen—the loudest, most irritating toys on the planet.

Nevertheless, she was happy for her, she really was. It had been a dream for Masaki ever since she was little, and it had actually come true. They weren't even dating as is the usual term one used in the Living World and Soul Society alike, they were _courting_. They were, essentially, in the relationship with the intent of _marriage_. Dating seemed so much more casual a term in comparison.

She wanted Sora to act, and _soon_. If he didn't, she might. It wasn't usually the woman that did so, but if he wanted to be married before they made love than she was willing to take that blow to her pride. She loved him, and she knew a love like this could only lead to marriage.

With that, a horrible revelation revealed itself to her. _What if…his love doesn't match mine?_

The thought had never occurred to her before. The more she thought about it, the more she realized it made sense. Maybe it was only his sense of duty that had made him help her all those times, maybe he simply didn't want to touch her, that's why he hadn't made love to her yet. Was it simply his sense of duty that made him stay with her then? Would he be happier with someone else?

She was so distracted by her thoughts she didn't see the giant paw barreling down on her, and in a second she felt her head snap to the side as pain burst through her body, Hierro or not. She felt herself falling to the ground, and with only dimming vision she saw him flying towards her, a look unlike anything she had ever seen before on his face.

Desperation.

"Tsukiyomi!!"

_**Heh,**_ she thought as she felt herself fading into unconsciousness, _**no matter how many times I tell him to call me Tsuki, he still forgets every once in a while…**_

She slumped over just as he reached her, and he caught the lithe body easily. The sight of her blood staining her pristine hair made him clench his teeth, and he carefully set her on the sand before standing straight with every muscle corded with anger. In seconds the wound had been erased from existence, but he had other business to deal with now. With barely-restrained fury he reached up and took off his glasses before glaring at the Hollows with his midnight-blue eyes burning in absolute rage.

With a flash of light his rings were back on his fingers, before in an eerie display of spiritron-enhanced reiatsu, _all_ of his rings floated up to twirl above his right palm. Faster and faster they spun, a miniature vortex over his hand until they stopped dead in less than a second, one ring front and center while the other five spread out like a star around it, reishi pulsing menacingly between them to form a very familiar shape.

The same shape as the Quincy medallion.

"You should consider yourselves lucky, I haven't even shown this to Tsuki yet. Too bad you won't be able to tell anyone about it," he hissed maliciously as his body sparked with power.

"Disappear from my sight!"

…

~One Hour Earlier~

…

He loved going on walks with her, even if those walks happened to be around the grey, desert background of Hueco Mundo. She liked to get out of Las Noches every once in a while, and after being in the Living World for so long she liked going back simply to go back. He liked how light his body felt, how little difficulty he had doing things since he had started getting trained by her.

She wasn't the easiest instructor, but he knew she wasn't deliberately trying to hurt him any more than she had to. It still stung like nothing else. He was proud of his body now. He had always felt like the odd man out in his family. He was the only one to inherit their mother's godlike abilities, and even though that was amazing, try explaining that to a young child who was the only one different out of all his siblings, not to mention the orange hair. He had never truly gotten over that complex, but that wasn't the reason he trained so hard.

He wanted to look like he belonged by her side.

_God, just look at her,_ he thought as he looked to the side, to his girlfriend. Her ashen hand was in his, and it felt too small and feminine to be holding so much destructive power. He had to admit he liked being taller than her, holding her against his chest was such an experience he couldn't even explain it. It was like he had been designed to fit her. He just wanted to seem like he deserved her, at least physically.

She was gorgeous. That may even be an insult to her, she was breathtaking. As her sister let her hair grow out, Tsuki had decided to _cut_ hers. Her sparkling white hair was almost as short as her father's and it was smoothed behind her ears like her brother's before it flared out into spikes at the back of her head. Her face had lost any childlike fat it might have still held when she was fourteen, and over her year of growth her face angled even more, accentuating her seductively narrow eyes with high cheekbones and a perfect nose. What made her eyes look even more spectacular was their constant state of Hollowization, it added a sense of deadliness that made her all the more attractive. With her newly gained control however, her stoic demeanor wasn't as viciously enforced anymore, and thus her white eyebrows now floated softly over her eyes and not in the near-scowl they were almost constantly in during her younger years. She looked…kind, though he had always known her to be.

When she smiled, god, when she smiled he felt like he was looking at a goddess, something beyond even the princess title she already held.

She had chosen different apparel over the years too, as her fighting evolved and her figure matured. She had taken a page from Yoruichi's book and now wore tight flexible pants whiter than even her skin that was outlined with black around it's borders like any typical Arrancar wear. Unlike her sister, who had chosen to show off her impressive cleavage openly through her kimono, Tsukiyomi had chosen to cover her equally abundant chest. It was covered, but that didn't mean it wasn't being showed off. Her shirt—if it could be called that—consisted merely of skintight white material that came to just under her breasts and nothing more, and she wore a white and black jacket over that that barely came to her midriff, exposing her trim stomach for all to see. Since she had the same tastes as him, as was even more surprising, the sleeves of said jacket were _always_ rolled up. It was never-ending torment for him.

A punk princess more beautiful than the most highly renowned model in the Living World, who was constantly wearing clothes that showed off every aspect of that dangerous beauty. She practically radiated warnings that any lesser creature that dared touch her would die _very_ painfully. Yet, through all that she still held herself with the poise of a calm regent, even though she looked the part of what could only be described as a rebel. Rebel may have not been the right word, just a woman who was confident enough to dress 'down' and still act like she was wearing fine jewels. Her zanpakutou was strapped securely to her side and she looked every bit the proud warrior she was, unlike the unassuming Masaki who was absurdly powerful but still looked like she wouldn't know what a sword was if she didn't constantly have one on her person.

It was almost painful to look at her. He felt so abysmally inadequate compared to her sanguine beauty. He knew it was a ridiculous reason to train as hard as he had, but in his mind it was very important and that was all that mattered. He wanted her to look at him with the same pride he looked at her with.

They had been together all through the height of his puberty, and keeping his arousal down had been hard enough then. It would seem that even after that stage of life was supposed to be over with he still struggled with keeping his body under control around her. She was so…magnificent, and she was with _him_. In Hueco Mundo that couldn't be objected to, but as soon as they tried to make it anything official in the lifelong sense, he knew he was in for nothing short of hell. He knew they could smell the difference of scent in virgins, and he knew once they took that last step he was going to have to fight. He didn't mind if she fought with him, but he didn't want to be the one sitting on the sidelines, lounging about while his 'partner' went and fought for them. He still had his pride.

That's why he had held off for so long, though with every passing day it got worse and worse. He could see the confusion in her eyes every time he pushed away her advances, and it gnawed at his stomach like a bad case of food poisoning. He wanted to be with her, the thought barely ever left his mind, but he wanted to be strong enough to defend her when the time came. He knew technically she wasn't an Arrancar, but she was going to be treated like one, and did expect to be treated like one. He was going to fight for her, and he finally felt like he was ready.

He had found his trump card, the ability truly born from the power of phenomenon rejection itself mingled with the Quincy blood flowing through him. He had found his true power at last, not the mere imitations of his mother. He was a Quincy fairy-wielder, and as unthreatening as that would seem at first glance, he would show them what that meant.

Las Noches was still visible in the distance, but he could feel the tingle of reiatsu around them, far more strongly than before. He cursed under his breath.

"You feel that?"

She gave him a sidelong glance and smirked, which inevitably caused him to gulp at her picturesque poise. _**"You mean you only felt it now?"**_ she taunted jokingly.

He knew she was joking, but he couldn't stop the shame that instantly burned in his chest. He was much better than his brother at hiding his emotions, he always had been, and at least he knew she couldn't tell what was going on inside him like most women seem to be innately capable of doing.

She may not have been able to see it in his eyes, but his hesitancy to respond told her more than that ever could. _**"Hey, I was joking. You know that right?"**_

He adjusted his glasses out of habit. "Yeah, I know it." His voice was lacking his usual enthusiasm though. With a flourish of his hand and a cry of, "Kouten Zanshun, I Reject!" Tsubaki had taken off from his finger and exploded into the nearby sand dune, where the telltale traces of a Hollow evaporating floated up. Just like that his ring was back on his finger and Tsukiyomi stepped forward with her sword drawn.

"_**We can tell the difference between an ambush and a colony you know. You might want to work on those hide-and-seek skills."**_

The sand shot up all around them, and just like that they were fighting.

He had to admit, he didn't mind the violence, in fact he actually enjoyed fighting as long as she was around. He was well trained, both by his parents and his girlfriend, and he knew how to handle himself in almost any situation. With a simple incantation he had his sword and shield equipped and was slashing and dashing through the hordes aimed at him.

She seemed oddly distracted by something as she fought, but he could only tell that because of how long he'd been around her. Had anyone else been looking on, they would have only seen a cream-white demigoddess easily annihilating any that came near her.

He shrugged it off; she was more than any of their foes could handle, and more than _he_ could handle in more ways than one. He felt his pulse jump, and not because of the fight he was in, and groaned lightly. He didn't want to put it off any longer, he had finally mastered his special art, and if he waited any longer Tsuki might just decide she'd had enough. That thought scared him to no end.

_Tonight, definitely tonight I'll…_

Even his dull human senses heard the hit, and as his eyes peered over the only thing he saw was Tsukiyomi Kurosaki, one of the strongest people he had ever known, the kindest, most beautiful woman who had chosen him above all people to be with her, fall to the ground with a trail of blood flowing from the wound on her head.

His pulse was all he heard. He might have shouted her name as he rushed to catch her, but he couldn't hear it. He caught her quickly, saw her unfocused eyes flutter closed as she went limp, and white hot fury erupted inside him. He set her down and with two words anything that might have been wrong with her other than the visible wound was erased. His muscles were trembling, his entire body was so tightly wound it took all of his self-control to raise his hand calmly to take off his glasses.

No words were spoken, but by some signal his rings had flown off his hands and were now circling over his right palm, charging with the dense reishi of Hueco Mundo. He was a Quincy. He was a Quincy with powers that overstepped the realm of laws and physics, of science and magic, of reality in its entirety.

And finally, he had found a way to fuse them.

He knew his Quincy abilities couldn't simply be lying dormant, couldn't be as simple as helping him strengthen his fairies. He could feel reishi, could use it to some degree, but he couldn't figure out why he couldn't form the bow that came so easily to all his siblings.

He had found his answer.

The rings stopped dead, each ring a point on the glowing symbol they had formed.

"You should consider yourselves lucky, I haven't even shown this to Tsuki yet. Too bad you won't be able to tell anyone about it," he hissed maliciously as his body sparked with power.

"Disappear from my sight!"

…

Tsukiyomi Kurosaki was never one to stay unconscious for long. She probably would have woken up even with the wound on her head, but since that was no longer there she awoke even faster than usual, and it wasn't to the painful throbbing she had expected in her head.

Instead, it was to the cries of purification all around her. Blue light danced around the area like fireworks and it took her a little while to focus in on the scene. There were huge skids in the ground, like an enormous burst of energy had vaporized all in its way, and it had been fired more than once. The flashes of light continued, and finally she looked over to where she felt her boyfriend's presence and stopped cold.

His pants were still in place, but his shirt had disappeared, and in its place was a uniform unlike anything she had ever seen, though she recognized the symbol on the back of the white jacket easily. It was the Quincy cross. His left arm was completely covered in the sleeve of the jacket, but the right only had a shoulder protector and otherwise left the arm uncovered. A belt with a long flap covered in linear designs swayed softly over his left leg, and his right arm had a strange glove only covering a few of his fingers on it.

That was when she saw the bow.

It was what was connected to the left sleeve of the jacket, and not only that, but it was formed by the Santen Kesshun. She would recognize the reiatsu of his blue shield anywhere. But that wasn't what had her attention, no, that was held by the glowing blue wing extending over his left shoulder, aflame with reishi. It wasn't hard for her to figure out what it all was. She had thought he couldn't use the powers of the Quincy, but this…she was sure that she had been told about this.

This was the Quincy's final form…and it had been invoked with the Shun Shun Rikka.

Tsubaki flew around his right hand while he aimed his bow with his left, and when he found a target, lines of spiritrons shot out from the flaming wing and into the gloved hand to fuse with the flying fairy to make an arrow. With an easy motion he had notched the arrow and fired, and just like that the landscape was changed. It was a terrifying power. No smoke steamed from the trail of destruction, it was like not even the landscape itself knew it had just been hit. It was as if everything that was hit was simply…erased. She knew that couldn't be the case, because that had been why the Soul Reapers had killed off the Quincy race in the first place, and Sora was perfectly capable of purifying Hollows. That was what the fairies were for.

That was when it hit her. They _were_ being purified, but in the way of Rejection. Tsubaki _was_ the arrow even in this form, so they were being purified even if the evidence seemed to show otherwise. The amount of power though, it was simply astonishing.

If she remembered correctly though, the thing that happened after a Quincy had gone to their final form was…

The noise died down, and when she looked around she saw they were alone again, and he was back to normal, albeit without a shirt. Even his rings were back on his fingers, like nothing had ever happened.

Not even she, normally calm and stoic Tsukiyomi, could calm her wide eyes. _**"S-Sora…?"**_

He squatted down beside her and smiled as he put back on his glasses, though she could see the remnants of tears brimmed in his eyes as he stroked her short hair. "Thank goodness you're awake. When I saw you fall…I…I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

She couldn't hold his gaze. She could hear his heartbeat if she focused, but it was too erratic from the previous battle for her to be able to tell if he was lying or not. She couldn't get it out of her head that he had saved her out of some sense of responsibility. She sat up and brushed herself off instead of voicing that. _**"What did you do? What…**_**was**_** that?"**_

He grinned just like the teen she remembered falling in love with. "My power. Souken was talking to me once and he mentioned how he could attune himself to other's reiatsu and Reject them even though he was a Quincy. It got me to thinking if it was merely my state of mind that made the Shun Shun Rikka my first ability and not the Quincy reishi-manipulation powers of my brothers and sisters. Maybe I could use those powers more than I realized.

"I found the balance, Tsuki; I can keep myself from losing all my powers because of the Souten Kishun constantly healing me into the state right as I transform, my Santen Kesshun is my bow and my shield, and the Kouten Zanshun is my arrows. I'm nearly invincible when I'm like that, though I haven't figured out how to keep it up for longer than a half-hour. A pain in the butt if you ask me. I wanted it to be a surprise but…I couldn't let them get off that easily."

She forced a grin. _**"Thank you for saving me."**_

Normally he would have glowed from just her simple thanks, so she was surprised when his nimble hand had caressed down her cheek as he looked into her eyes worriedly. "Is something wrong? You seemed a bit distracted during the fight, and even now you don't quite seem like yourself."

Inwardly, she chuckled bitterly. How was it he could see right through her so easily and yet he couldn't see that she wanted him? _**"What do you think of me, Sora?"**_

Of all the things she could have said, this was the least expected. "Wha…I…um…huh?"

"_**You don't mind being around me, holding my hand…kissing me…"**_ He swore he could see her pale flesh turn red as she said that. _**"You fly off the handle when I get hurt, you're human yet you still prefer to be here with me than in the Living World with people better for you, but why!? Why do you do it? I love you, I want to be with you… I want you to **_**touch**_** me! Do you not feel the same way!?"**_

Her slim eyes widened when she was forced to the ground and all of a sudden a pair of lips she knew all too well were on hers, desperate, needy, forceful. He had never kissed her like this, and his body was flush over hers as he did so. She moaned raggedly as he assaulted the white lips hiding the healthy pink inside and all too soon even that was being ravaged by his tongue. He had thrown off his glasses beforehand, so they weren't digging into her, but another piece of his anatomy was, and it sent fire through her. He was aroused! He _wanted_ her!

She gasped for air as he pulled away but just as quickly grabbed his neck to bring him back to her. She loved him, she loved what he did to her with the smallest of gestures, she damn-well loved him and if he thought he was getting away this time then he was sadly mistaken. She had never wanted him so badly before, and she kissed him in a way that told him that. She had never felt like this, and it sent wonderful shivers through her. The unknown, that fear of the unknown before it was discovered. She loved that feeling. When he pulled away she groaned brokenly, praying that he wasn't pulling away again.

"Of course I love you," he said as he tried to even his labored breathing. That had been…indescribable. Her smile this time wasn't forced, and it made his body warm in happiness. She truly was magnificent when she smiled. "I love you so much, but I had to think of our future. When we…" he turned bright red and cleared his throat, "um…I mean…I wasn't going to be with you until I knew I could fight for you, because I wasn't going to be with you unless we were going to be together…forever, you know?" He was startled by the sight of her tears, and it looked like she didn't know whether she wanted to smile or cry.

"_**Are…are you saying that the only reason you wouldn't touch me…is because when you did you already knew you were going to fight for me? I could have easily—"**_ She was cut short when he put a finger over her lips, but his midnight-blue eyes were looking off to the side, both embarrassed _and_ hurt.

"I know you could have easily fought for us and won. That wasn't the point. I wanted to be able to fight for you, _by_ you, _with_ you. I wanted to be strong enough that you could look at me with the same pride I have when I look at you. I hate those stupid remarks everyone makes when they see me with you, I want to look like I belong with you! I have my pride too ya know!"

His rebel princess, his snow white goddess merely looked up at him with understanding as she smiled and ran her hand down the side of his face gently. _**"You goddamn idiot, of course I know that. I just…I never thought you took those people seriously. **_**I**_** love you don't I? Isn't that all that matters?"**_

He took her hand in his with kind but firm pressure. "I know that's all that matters, but you can't look at it from my perspective. You're the princess of Hueco Mundo, you're right at the top. You're loved by everyone, _feared_, _respected_. To them, I'm just a lowly _human_, not even a Quincy. I knew you would fight for us, but it just made me feel like I was being exactly what they thought I was. I love you, Tsukiyomi; _I_ want to be able to fight for _you_ too! I don't care if we fight together, I just don't want to be left behind."

She grinned seductively as she leaned up, just centimeters away from his face. She could feel his hot breath, and licked her lips hungrily right in front of him, earning a gulp that made his Adam's apple bob while sweat dribbled down his neck. He looked good enough to eat. _**"You are so damn lucky I understand where you're coming from. I have my own pride too, and if you had waited any longer, I wouldn't have."**_ She pressed her knee up into his crotch for emphasis, and even in that dangerous position he chuckled.

"I know this is long overdue, but…"

"_**If you ask whether or not I want to then I really will knee you right here,"**_ she warned in mock annoyance.

He chuckled again. "Just checking."

In seconds he had picked up her small body and Hirenkyaku had them to her citadel in almost the same amount of time. Tsukiyomi obviously appreciated his line of thinking, because within moments of being set down she had already shrugged her jacket from her body and leapt back onto him with her arms firmly around his neck and her legs around his waist before she proceeded to throw off his glasses and continue their hungry kisses of earlier. She was surprisingly light, but he wasn't the weakest human around anymore, and he had no trouble keeping her aloft as they kissed.

He could feel her heat even through her pants, though arguably they weren't much more than a second skin anyway. It drove him crazy and she didn't hesitate to grind herself on the hard flesh under his pants, which nearly caused him to drop her. His shirt had already been destroyed so he kicked off his sandals and thanked God he hadn't worn socks with them. It was supposed to be just a leisurely walk at the time after all. Right now he didn't want to separate from her for even a second.

She hummed happily into his mouth as his hands dragged over her sides heatedly, caressing what was bare and even what wasn't. She loved the tingles that flowed through her when his hands brushed the sides of her breasts. Way back when Kin had made fun of Masaki for her 'underdevelopment' but now both she and her fraternal twin had more than made up for that. She was proud of her large bust, and it was apparent that Sora liked it too.

He pulled at the bottom of her shirt and she was all too happy to release him for that one moment so he could pull it over her head and throw it to the side. He had always had a nagging suspicion because of how tight her shirt was, but for some reason he had never expected to see her perfect chest totally exposed once he took off her shirt. Her naked breasts were firm and proportioned, with dusky off-white nipples that were already small and hard. For a second he was just struck motionless, staring at her. It was the first time he had ever seen her even half-naked, probably because he was worried about what he might do if he had ever seen her before he was ready, and she was even more beautiful than he had imagined.

Tsukiyomi grinned devilishly and squeezed her ample cleavage tauntingly. _**"Like what you see?"**_

He made a noise somewhere in the back of his throat that sent shocks up her spine. "You have to ask?"

Now both clad in only their pants, he started feverishly kissing her again, trailing from her mouth, down her jaw and all over her collarbone as she ran her hands through his hair in encouragement. He had waited so long to do this, and she was clearly enjoying the treatment. He couldn't even find a scar on the impenetrable Hierro, her skin was as perfect as she portrayed herself to be. He nearly groaned when her hands started exploring the hard muscle of his back, and her touch was so gentle he was feeling it all the more acutely, like she knew that his skin would tighten and sensitize itself to feel it better _because_ of the ghostlike strokes.

They fell to her bed and she laughed lustfully as they bounced before his fingers were massaging the waistband of her skintight pants. With an eager smile she lifted her hips, and it was probably only thanks to the force of his desire that he was able to strip off those pants in one pull, revealing probably the skimpiest set of panties he had ever seen. He was so hard by now it was getting ridiculous, and it was made even worse by the damp spot he could clearly see on them.

"God, Tsuki, do you wear those all the time?" he rasped.

She grinned again before ripping off the damp material and discarding it off to the side. _**"Of course not."**_ She saw him almost release his sigh of relief, so with a _wicked_ grin this time, she leaned up to his ear and whispered, _**"Sometimes I don't wear panties at all."**_

He nearly choked at that mental image. When he looked down he saw a much better image though: the love of his life, a goddess in her own right, sprawled beneath him completely nude with her short white hair mussed and flared over the sheets. "You are so beautiful…"

The devilish grin she had been wearing melted into one of sweet love and if he didn't know any better he would say she was actually blushing, though she hadn't at all so far even bereft of clothing. _**"A-Are you going to look at me all day or are you going to join me? You're overdressed."**_ His eyes widened before he started fumbling with the button to his pants, but before he could her hands were on his. _**"On second thought, allow me."**_

He could hear his heartbeat thundering in his eardrums as she deftly undid his pants, and after only a moment's hesitation she pulled both them and his boxers down at once. His erection pointed proudly at her, free of its confines, and he had never felt more embarrassed in his life. He wanted to make love to Tsukiyomi, but at the same time he _was_ a virgin, it was only natural that he feel like he did after finally being naked with the woman he loved. Scrutiny was a terrible thing, one feared by everyone regardless of race and gender. He was confident, but it was her reaction that mattered.

He was caught completely off-guard when she actually looked _bemused._ He could feel the blush wanting to rise all over his body. Right then he wanted to get as far away from her as he could, but then she looked up at him and grinned. _**"How did I **_**not**_** feel that all those other times we kissed? You must have some impressive self-control, Sora Ishida, to keep **_**that**_** down."**_ She was trying to make a joke, but that was what she had taken to doing whenever she got scared since she had gained all her emotions back. He was a lot bigger than her, in _every_ way, and though her regular pride and confidence may not allow her to show it, she was just as much of a virgin as he was. She was…scared.

Relief flew through him and he let loose the breath he had been holding. She really knew how to scare a guy. "You certainly made it a hard battle, I will say that." He wasn't used to having his own humor turned on him, but he was glad she could still make jokes. It wouldn't be good for her if she was too tense, he knew that much. He gasped when he saw she had reached forward uncertainly and grasped his engorged sex in her small hand.

He was frozen on the spot as she started pumping her hand, gauging his reactions with curiosity. _**"This is supposed to feel good, right?"**_ she asked hesitantly.

She was being careful of her strength, he knew that was for certain, but she wasn't gripping it too tightly either. When she rubbed her palm over the tip and spread the fluid gathering there, his knees trembled. "Yeah…" he breathed out. It did feel good, _really_ good. He had thought he sensed hesitancy in her, but just like Tsuki, she wasn't one to let fear keep her at bay for long. He quickly pulled away when he saw her lean forward as she licked her lips, and he could see the confusion in her eyes.

"_**That's supposed to feel good too, isn't it?"**_

He breathed in heavily. God she looked too damn sexy right then, and his male instincts were completely ignoring the fact he was a virgin, they were running on a primal course that was very simple to understand. Not even an Ishida was immune to hormones. "I don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with. This is our first time, we'll have plenty of time later." That, and just seeing her ready to do something like that had almost made him burst right there.

He knelt back down on the bed and slowly leaned in to kiss her, and she was happy to reciprocate. He would take it slow, he didn't want to hurt her any more than he had to.

She could feel the uneasiness in her body melt away under the passion he was reigniting in her. Something different than anything she had ever felt before had flowed through her as she watched him try to hide his feelings as she pleasured him, and it wasn't something bad at all. She had been wet before, but now she could really feel it.

Her skin tingled as he made his way down her neck once again, and she inhaled sharply when she felt that he wasn't going back to kiss along her shoulders, instead he was continuing down. Her arms tensed automatically when his kisses reached her breasts, and her breathing was quickly becoming erratic. When he kissed one of her nipples she cried out at the shock that went through her, and then he went to her other one and did the same thing, turning the peaks already hard into diamonds. He tortured her bust with his tongue and lips, and she could do nothing but ask for more. She had played with herself before, but this was something entirely different.

She tensed when she felt his hand at her sacred area, but only for a second. She trusted him, she loved him. She had wanted this for so long, she couldn't be scared now. With a kind smile she opened her legs to allow him better access, and when he ran his fingers over her wetness her back arched in her surprise. She had never expected to feel it _that_ strongly. He returned to her breasts as he carefully rubbed her folds, and she whimpered at the sudden ferocity of the pleasure that assaulted her. It had _never_ felt that good when she had done it herself. When he started to rub and knead her breasts solely, she practically turned to jelly. _**Where on earth did he learn to do **_**that**_**!?!**_ Each jolt resulted in her womanhood throbbing even more than before, and she knew what it wanted. Him.

It felt so good, her entire body felt too impossibly good. If she had known it would be this good she would have let him do it a long time ago. Well, actually, she _had_ tried to get him to do it a long time ago, so she allowed herself to relinquish control to the amazing feelings in her body now that he _was_ doing it. Without her knowledge her legs started rubbing together, trying to alleviate the terrible itch of her wet sex.

"_**Lower…please…!"**_ He wasn't one to say no to a request like that, so he made his way back down with one hand, mesmerized by the firm muscles under her soft skin as he rubbed over her. She moaned in relief when he trailed over the finely trimmed white hair and rubbed the bundle of nerves aching for attention below it, succeeding in both easing her itch and making it worse at the same time. She gasped when she felt one of his fingers push past her dripping folds and she thrust her hips down, trying to get him even deeper. It felt wonderful, even if he was clearly inexperienced. She wasn't one to talk, and she knew it could only get better with time.

Sora had never felt anything like it. She was so hot and wet inside, and gripping his finger with desperate longing. If this was how tight she was just around his finger, he had to make sure she was more ready. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her during what was supposed to be a pleasurable act. She moaned and squirmed as he moved his finger inside her, and the look on her face when he added another finger was something any man would give his left arm to see. She was so wet, and even free of his clothing his erection was throbbing painfully just from looking at her.

She made a high noise of protest when he stopped, but she was greatly aroused when she felt him kissing his way down her body. She had never known so much of her could be responsive other than the obvious, but he was making it perfectly clear that he loved every snow white inch. Her whole body trembled when she felt his breath against her slit, and even though she tried to prepare herself, nothing could have readied her for the sensation of his tongue on her. Her mouth had gone dry almost instantly, and every nerve seemed attuned to his pace as he experimented between licking and delving into her. She could feel her stomach muscles convulsing, could feel the coil winding lower deep within her as the sensation started inward and flowed out until it bounced back and hit her even harder. Her mind was zeroing in on that one area between her legs, but before she fell she remembered something, and it brought her back to some sense of lucidity. She hated that she had to pick then of all times to remember something like that, but she couldn't deny her annoyance.

"_**Lie…down."**_ She ordered as she panted and pushed his head away from her, in spite of every single protest her body was making. He looked at her in confusion as he licked his lips and savored her taste, and she felt herself throb again. _**God, when did he become so sexy!?**_ She knew the answer to that, but for some reason she still wondered.

"Did I do something wrong?"

She nearly hit herself. Of course he would think something like that. One wasn't usually pushed away in the middle of something that felt that amazing. Still, even if she was nervous, she had been willing to do it too, and he had pushed her away. She wasn't going to let him get away with that.

"_**Yes, you did,"**_ she replied, her tone nothing more than a sultry hiss. _**"Now lie down."**_ He did as she said, still wondering what it was he could have done wrong, and she eyed the large shaft pointing proudly into the air with appreciation. If he was feeling even half the itch she had earlier, than he had held himself back admirably, and she could tell just by looking at it that he was. She crawled over and grasped him firmly, reveling in his broken gasp as she turned to look at his face. _**"Wasn't it you who said we would have plenty of time later? Why should I listen to someone that can't even take their own advice?"**_ She punctuated that with a lingering lick of his throbbing erection from base to tip, never once taking her eyes of him. It tasted salty, but not bad enough for her to dislike it. In fact, she could get used to it on a regular basis.

He should have known better than to try and put restrictions on Tsukiyomi Kurosaki, and goddamn if that wasn't the sexiest thing he had ever seen. He saw her shapely behind right near him and realized why she had asked him to lie down. He may be a virgin, but he certainly wasn't stupid, and he would be lying if he said he hadn't read up on what to do. She yelped when he grabbed her legs and lifted her thighs over either side of his face, once again putting his hot breath on her womanhood, and her body lurched forward at the sudden feeling of his tongue on her again, pressing his hardness against her. She could _definitely_ get used to this.

His tongue was putting a haze of bliss over her mind, and she returned the favor with zeal, engulfing him in her mouth and rolling her tongue over his sensitive head. She felt his legs jerk unwittingly and would have smiled had her mouth not been otherwise occupied. It wasn't nearly as bad as she had feared, even expected, and she found she actually liked it.

Her mouth was so warm, and she was doing things with her tongue he hadn't known was possible. Even as he probed her nether-regions with his tongue, even her taste aroused him. She hummed happily when he hit a particularly sensitive spot and he thrust into her mouth on impulse at the unexpected and unbelievable feelings that invoked. He could feel that hum through his entire body, and it had been hard enough to hold off when he had simply been trying to please her only. He licked deeper while he inserted a finger into her wetness, and another content moan purred out from her throat. It was indescribable. He could feel her mouth convulsing around him as she tried to suppress her gag reflex and nearly lost it. She had no idea what she was doing to him.

His heart was racing, his mind felt numb, his toes were losing feeling and it felt like his whole body was preparing for an explosion. His nerves were on fire, the constant bliss was something they were unused to and it was only thanks to his hereditary self-control that he had been able to hold off as long as he had in the first place. She was pumping with her hand what she couldn't reach with her mouth and it was absolutely incredible. He could feel it coming, and hoped she was as close as he was.

Nearly mindless with need he locked his lips over her clit and gave a hard suckle, which caused her to involuntarily swallow him as far as she could as her climax rippled through her without warning. With a strangled groan he gave in after her and the explosion his body had been preparing for shocked his body with breathtaking euphoria as he licked up her release. She had felt it coming, and she swallowed as much as she could before it dribbled out of her mouth while her mind went blank from the feeling of both her own climax and the feeling of his. She actually liked how he tasted, it was Sora.

They were both left panting for breath as their heartbeats tried to return to regularity but right then they were both in another world, still reeling from their first orgasms together. Tsuki tried to pull herself together and licked the remnants off her lips lustfully. God she wanted him and she wanted him right then! He was still painfully hard, and that only proved to turn her on more. She shakily removed herself from over his face and her legs nearly buckled on her as she turned back around to face him, smoothing her hair back behind her head and thus showing off her impressive breasts as she did so. She looked so beautiful he couldn't even comment on what they had just done.

Suddenly she had bounced forward and clasped her arms around his neck and kissed him with the passion he had come to love from his Tsuki. They could both taste themselves on their lover's lips but it didn't bother them in the least as they lay together, so close and yet so far from becoming one. At that point nothing could bother them, if anything it made them more aroused.

"You're incredible, Tsukiyomi…" he whispered lovingly as he stroked his hand over her white hair. Those Hollowized eyes he loved softened with care as he looked at her and she kissed him slowly, drawing out his tongue to tangle with hers in a sweet embrace.

She smiled warmly when they broke apart and laid her head on his chest. _**"No, I'm yours."**_

He couldn't help but smile at that as he rubbed her back softly. His heart had inflated with pride and adoration at those two simple words. Women aren't the only ones with insecurities, and she always knew exactly how to calm his somehow, even when it was the furthest thing from his mind. He loved her too much for words alone to be able to express it. "And I'm yours," he whispered as he tried to stop from choking up. She really didn't know what a few little words could do to him, especially ones as special as those.

Again, she graced him with one of her brilliant smiles but this time she scooted up and rubbed back against the rock hard flesh pressing up behind her._** "Let's make it official."**_

When he nodded she sat up on his waist, his erection pressing between the cleft of her ass, and lifted herself up to position him. She was so wet and she knew she was ready now. She moaned when the tip brushed over her sensitized sex and slowly lowered herself. She winced as the large head penetrated her virgin folds but gasped at the same time. The feeling was unlike anything she had ever felt, and it felt wonderful! She knew there was one last obstacle before they were joined completely, and so she bit her lip and dropped herself down, fully sheathing him within her in one quick thrust.

Her breath flew out of her like she had been punched in the stomach. He felt even larger inside her, and she felt so full it was like she could hardly breathe. The pain was there too, she had expected that, but it was a sharp pain that had quickly dulled into a throbbing sense of discomfort. She could feel him stretching her, could feel her muscles contract around him and spasm as he stayed still yet rubbed never before used nerves that were slowly overriding the discomfort she was feeling. She took a few deep breaths in and tried to let herself relax, but all she could feel was his erection within her, and she got tighter on instinct.

The haze was coming on again, but this time it was even stronger. Her body was thrumming with slow-building pleasure and God help her she wanted _more_. She could see Sora's muscles tight against his skin as he swallowed heavily. He was clearly keeping himself from moving though she could tell that was all he wanted to do.

They were finally one.

She forced her trembling legs to obey her and raised herself up, tearing a moan from her throat as those newly-ignited nerves were stroked before falling down and impaling herself on his manhood again. Sora's breathy moan reached her sensitive ears and she smiled as she started a pace, the pleasure quickly overriding all sense of reason she might have had left.

He filled her so completely, fit her so perfectly. He felt amazing in her as his length rubbed places she hadn't even known she had before then as she bounced on him and her cries of bliss went unadulterated by inhibitions. It was better than she had ever imagined, better than anything she had ever felt by herself, and it was made all the more pure by her love. They were finally making love.

He pushed into her as hard as he could, desperate for more friction as she ground herself against him. She was so incredibly tight it took his breath away, and the silken sheath of his lover wrapped around him in a hot, wet embrace that he never wanted to leave. His skin was tingling with pleasure, his mind was unaccustomed to the otherworldly sensations and all he could think of was her.

"_**More!! More…!!"**_

That was too much for him, and in an instant he had her on her back with him above her. Her Hollowized eyes looked up at him amusedly before they closed in rapture as he thrust into her deeply, quickly accelerating to a speed faster than she had been able to go. She cried out her approval as she locked her ankles behind his waist and seeing her below him, naked and moaning as her breasts bounced in tune to his thrusts was incredibly arousing.

She couldn't stand it, he was hitting new places in her, sparking new nerves within her with unrelenting ferocity and she was loving every minute of it. He knew she wasn't going to break, and he wasn't afraid to give it to her as hard as she demanded. That feeling deep in her belly was growing again, she could feel it coming and she wanted it so badly. Her blunt nails dug into his shoulders as she sought more contact and he kissed her with an intensity that had her seeing stars. Her breasts were mashed against his chest and rubbing her nipples tortuously along his flesh, and the combined stimuli was too much for her overactive brain to handle. She wanted one thing and she had to get it, she felt like she was going to go crazy if she didn't.

"Tsuki…I'm…"

"_**Yes! Yes! Don't stop!!"**_ That was what she wanted! She knew it, she was so close!

He slipped a hand between their joined bodies to rub her clit and her mind went blank as she tensed around him, convulsing uncontrollably as her orgasm rocked through her and his filled her up. It was such an amazing feeling, she was glad she was on contraceptive instead of making him wear a condom. She felt so full inside, and he was _still_ hard.

He hadn't been able to hold off any longer, and when her inner muscles started contracting like they had he had fallen off that edge. She was still gripping him, tightly holding herself against his body as he held her too and collapsed on top of her, being sure not to crush her and accidentally pushing himself even deeper inside her.

Their heavy breathing was all they heard as they stared into each other's eyes, fully aware of what they had just done. They had finally made love.

"I'm yours, now and forever," he said breathlessly as he brushed back her sweaty hair and smiled.

"_**And I'll always be yours,"**_ She replied, just as out of breath as he was.

But the night was far from over.

…

~A Few Months Later~

…

Tsukiyomi Ishida stood as the maid of honor, happily watching her twin sister get married. She was happy for her, she really was. She looked out into the crowd and winked at the bespectacled man in the white kimono with the famous starred cross on his sleeve. He was as immortal as she was now, and still learning more about his powers with every passing day.

She was happy for her sister, she really was.

She grinned wickedly as she played with the ring on her finger.

She was happy for her sister, but she had still beaten her getting married.

…

THE END…for now.

…

**Author's Notes:** Another one down, one left to go. To those who might wonder about the timeskip reference at the beginning, it was referring to the end of the first epilogue, not the previous one, and thus is the same as if this was the second epilogue, running along the same timeline. Just to clear up any confusion.

Not much to say other than thank-you all so much for continuing to favorite and review! It's so nice to see, and the encouragement is always a nice boost to my morale. The last chapter cometh!


	30. Finale: Girl's Night Out

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo and whoever else actually owns it and I make no money from writing this. This story _and all original characters therein_ however are mine and are not to be replicated, reposted, or copied in any way without my consent. Thank you.

…

**Finale: Girl's Night Out**

…

It had been a year since the wedding brought about by the relationship that had shocked all of Soul Society, and for the first time in a while the Shinigami Women's Association had convened, though for more regular reasons than usual. Mostly, it had been forever since they had had a night out with their friends, away from their kids.

This time, they had chosen a rather unlikely place as well. They were all in the Living World, calmly taking up almost the entire upper level of the bar they had reserved, though there were still some tables available. With all that had happened, the number of members had grown significantly, though some of them couldn't go to the regular meetings, because they weren't even regular Shinigami. Besides the regulars, Halibel and Asuka were there now too, as well as Tsukiyomi, Masaki, and Ikki. Needless to say the point of the Association had gone awry since most of the members had gotten married, but they were still known for their pranks and product…reinterpretation.

The music thrummed in the background as the other bar-goers danced on the lower level, and left them in relative peace, if not for their loud laughter. No-one else was with them, though not for lack of trying that was for sure. The attractive women were all wearing clothes of the real world, and for a good deal of them that was not something they were used to. Kuukaku had had the better part of the entire bar drooling when she walked in, both the men _and_ the women, though Halibel had sparked much the same response and it only seemed to continue.

Out of all of them—with the exception of Rukia—Nanao's figure had matured the most over the years, but that was because everyone else had already changed long before her, and Yachiru didn't count. However, even for an event like this the poised woman still had her hair up like it usually was. They were all laughing and talking as they drank Sake, all but Masaki, Ikki, and Tsukiyomi. They were nursing beverages of the carbonated variety instead of the rice wine most of the others were enjoying.

"Jeez, where's Mom?" Masaki said as she adjusted her shirt for the umpteenth time. She had gotten accustomed to the kimonos of Soul Society, and had forgotten how tight her t-shirts were. "She was the most excited out of all of us to go to this thing!"

Tsuki grinned evilly as she crossed her legs, and the white leather of her pants crunched lightly in protest. "Who knows? She'll be here soon. It's not like she can hang out with Dad since all the guys decided to have a guy's night too. I guess there aren't too many kids that need babysitting anymore, but what can they do with even a few kids?"

Kuukaku rolled her eyes. "Knowing them? By now they're probably all in that training area fighting. Ken hasn't gotten his dose of fighting Ichigo in a while, and with all those other captains there, who knows how much of the house will be left by the end of the night!" She laughed as she slammed down another glass. The woman could hold her liquor like few men could, and Yoruichi was happily buzzed beside her.

"Yeah, and Shunsui probably has most of them drinking by now too!"

Kin grinned as she slowly drank her cup, and probably would continue to do that over the whole night. She wasn't accustomed to Sake because Kaien never drank, but that didn't mean she couldn't stand it. She was her mother's daughter after all. She still preferred milk, though she suspected that was hereditary too. Just like some of the women, she knew that a few of the men couldn't drink either. "Wouldn't doubt it, and the ones left in the morning will have probably drawn on their faces! I wouldn't put it past Kaien anyway…" she trailed off as she smiled again.

Rangiku, as joyfully inebriated as she always was, leaned over the table in her semi-coherent, wonderfully dazed way. "About that, why'dyou guys not drink?" Of course, it was directed to the only three without alcohol in front of them.

"Good idea, let's destroy the bar!" a voice deadpanned mockingly, and the group turned to see Tatsuki walking up the stairs to their table, she too holding a non-alcoholic drink.

Of course, this didn't settle in the slightly drunk woman's mind right away. "Whatd'ya mean?"

Tatsuki gave her an exasperated look with her now black-laced eyes and Rangiku lolled back into the padded bench with a giggle. "Ooohhh, got it. Get drunk, go BOOOOMMM!" Poor Momo was left trying to deal with the laughing woman, as she was sitting right beside her.

"But hey, look who dropped by! Sorry it took me so long to get here, but she kinda arrived right as I was about to leave." Tatsuki gave a critical look down the stairs. "She just _had_ to say hi to Ichigo before she came along!" She added jokingly, and most of them were extremely surprised to see a neon-green head of hair appear as the woman walked up the stairs behind her.

"Heya girls! Long time no see!" Nel, also known as Neliel, greeted excitedly. Her mask had been fixed a long time ago after her true form had been inadvertently discovered in one of the more climactic battles around Las Noches, but she spent most of her time traveling around the Living World now, like Kin and Kaien had taken to doing over the past seven years. She looked just as beautiful as ever, but gigais never really change with the exception of pregnancy. She was still as strong as ever, and still as modest too. Out of all of them she probably had the most clothing on, with the omission of Soi-Fong. The blush on the Second Division captain's face hadn't left since Yoruichi had shown her what she had picked out for her.

The three Kurosaki children present were all glowing with happiness. "Nel! It's been so long!" They cried as they abandoned their seats and rushed the busty greenhead.

The Arrancar in gigai form looked down amusedly at the grown up women she was surrounded by. "I can see that! You've certainly grown over the years! And I heard you all got married too! I'm sorry I couldn't be there, I can't remember where we were then, might've been Africa." She shrugged. "Will you still accept my congratulations?"

They all nodded and they hugged again, a sight that would have any mortal man dying of blood loss.

Yoruichi waved at the former Espada and offered her a seat. "So Kon's gigai's still working alright?"

The Arrancar blushed when she thought of the red-haired, twenty-something body Urahara had created for the annoying Mod-Soul. All he really wanted to do was see the world, though arguably he would have likely been chasing girls before he did that had he not met her. "Y-Yes, very well."

After begging and pleading, Kisuke had finally given in and made him an adult body. It would be rude, and possibly dangerous, if he had merely been put into a dead body, and Ichigo had long lost his tolerance of the plushy being in the same home as his wife. Out of the plush toy, he really wasn't that bad, though some habits just couldn't be changed.

On that note, they really made the perfect couple. He was the near narcissistic, arguably handsome Mod-Soul that had a fixation with a certain part of the female body as well as strict respect for life, and she was a masochistic, busty woman that held the same morals and actually enjoyed his antics. As long as they were on her of course, but it wasn't like he was bouncing around from girl to girl, the ring on his finger attested to that. Still, for a masochist, she got some twisted enjoyment of her own out of hitting him around if his head was ever turned. Urahara had certainly been generous with the body, though she suspected Mod-Souls such as him did have their own mental image of what they should look like. They weren't like the others after all, and their free-will had been part of the problem with them in the first place, at least from Soul Society's perspective.

They had been traveling around the world since they had gotten married, but it was a Spartan ceremony to be sure. She wanted his commitment to her before they went around, and he was happy to give it. She had become his goddess the moment he saw her, and her masochistic side made her probably the only woman in any realm that would accept him. It worked somehow, and she had to say he could put his greatly enhanced leg strength to _good_ use.

She shivered unwittingly. "I should thank Urahara-san while I'm back."

Asuka chuckled throatily as she eyed the green-haired woman. "No question why, eh? You two are probably one of the most understandable couples here compared to some of them!"

Tatsuki laughed and arched an eyebrow. "Speaking of that, you never did tell us how you got together with Kenpachi, Kuukaku."

The black haired woman played with her white bandana before taking another swig. "Meh, nothing to tell. I was in Seireitei lookin' for Jidanbou, and I couldn't find him. Pissed me off! He caught me on a bad day and I punched him in the face. We fight, next thing we know we're against one of those pasty white walls making out. Nothin' to it really, guess it was love at first punch. He's a damn good kisser too," she said idly, and they didn't miss the way she rubbed her lips softly at the memory.

They all felt sweat trickle down their heads and sighed heavily. That sounded like them all right.

"What about you, Ran? How'd you finally snag that block of ice?" The Shiba noble asked to keep the conversation going.

Rangiku was absolutely delighted to be called upon, and her eyes gleamed happily at the memory. "Well I had a thing for the captain for a while before, ya know? He was just so squeezable!"

They groaned. _Why does that not surprise me?_ They thought simultaneously.

"Well, he looked really bad one day, worried about…" She stopped momentarily and looked up thoughtfully. "You know, I don't know what he was worried about! He was worried about something or other, and when I told him to go home and leave the rest to me he actually looked at me gratefully! Well I had been well on my way as it was, but that look broke me and I knew I was in love with him! I kissed him, and…" she shivered in glee. "Well, I guess I wasn't the only one who broke that day."

Momo turned beet red beside her.

If Rangiku only knew that what he had been worrying about had been his feelings for her.

They looked at Karin, who had been trying to draw attention away from herself. "Karin?" Rangiku asked evilly.

The tomboy blushed. "W-W-What!?" She gulped at their expectant looks. "Fine! There's not much to tell though! I met him when he was leaving the clinic after talking to Ichi-nii once, and I asked him what he was doing. He looked at me funny and said he was new, and I offered to show him around. Wasn't long before I figured out what he was, and after that we would hang out every once in a while. He said he was 'fascinated' by me. After a bit I got sick of his emotionless face and asked him if he felt anything at all, but by that time I was a bit more than 'fascinated' with him myself. I guess I wanted to know if he felt anything about me.

"I'm not stupid, I saw the others that would come around Ichi-nii sometimes, and they could express themselves! Hell, I even saw one going out with one of his classmates! So that's it, I asked him, he gave me that funny look again, so I grabbed his face and I kissed him." She heard Tatsuki inhale sharply. "Yeah I know, that went well. It was like kissing a wall. I was making progress though, I could see he never really looked at me the same after that. I kept showing him around, and I swear he didn't call me anything other than 'violent girl' for the longest time after I kicked him for doing something stupid.

"I guess I got too attached to him, because I could hardly wait for the next time he'd come over. He kept coming over, and finally…the moron actually had the audacity to ask why I hadn't kissed him again!! How was I to know, huh!? But…he kissed me. I freaked at first, but he kissed me again and…well, the rest is history ain't it?"

This rang a bell in Tatsuki's mind. "So you mean…that time when Ulquiorra said he was going to explore after I met him…he was going to see you!?"

Karin shrugged. "Probably."

"You were what, thirteen!?"

Another shrug. "Around there. Like I said, it took a while before I even knew what I was feeling. I think I kissed him the first time when I was around sixteen, and you know when we started going out. He wasn't the easiest nut to crack."

Yuzu laughed in her sing-song voice. "Besides, who else could make Karin-chan realize she was a girl other than someone who didn't care how she looked or acted?"

"Yuzu!!"

"Okay, okay, don't get all up in arms already," Tatsuki interrupted quickly as she laughed. "So Kin, where are you and Kaien at right now? I'm sure the others would be interested in your travels." It was very well known that the two had taken to traveling the globe like Kon and Nel, though they made sure to come back at least once every month or so.

The platinum-blonde smiled at the question. "We've been in the tropics for the past few months. You'd really be surprised how rarely Soul Reapers are stationed where they're needed. I guess this is an improvement though, I know there were barely any stationed here for any long period of time before the special division was established. We've met a few here and there, and at least they're posting strong enough ones. Kaien still gets weird looks everywhere we go, that white hair is a real attention-grabber. Asia was pretty boring, but hiking through it was interesting enough. We both wanted a break, so we decided where else but the top vacation spots? Wasn't hard getting there with Shunpo, saves money too! What about you, Nel? Where are you guys?"

Aforementioned person laughed. "We're actually thinking of moving back here. We've been traveling for a long time now, we both know more languages than we ever thought we'd hear, and it'd be nice to be close to people we know again. Living out of backpacks and the division money gets old after how many years of doing it. It's nice to have a home to come back to. Hueco Mundo just doesn't have the same appeal. No seasons, no sunsets, it gets depressing. Thank God for these gigais."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Still, even after all the time that had gone by, it still unnerved some of them that they were talking with what was once the enemy—an evolved Hollow. It was a thought far in the back of their minds, but it was still there on some level. That she was actually getting paid—secretly by Ichigo of course—as part of his division because she hunted Hollows just like any of them did wasn't very surprising though. She did live with a Mod-Soul, and those had been specifically made to deal with Hollows. It wasn't bound to be a very hard side job, especially with her power level.

"And no children yet?" Retsu inquired kindly, and Nel nearly choked on her drink.

"N-No, not yet. We didn't want to bring a child into a world of constant traveling. M-Maybe sometime in the future, but we're happy as we are right now." Her face was a very endearing shade of pink though, one that matched the beauty mark going over her nose.

"And you, Kin? What are your plans?"

She had been expecting that, being that almost everyone at the large table that was married had at least one child with the just a few exceptions, and most of those hadn't been married near as long as she had. It wasn't like it was anything to be ashamed of. "Same as Nel. We aren't done traveling yet." Even she wasn't totally devoid of redness though. The thought of she and Kaien having kids was something she hadn't contemplated very much, and the possibilities had her blushing.

Ikki was the only spiritual being at the meeting, being that she didn't really use a gigai, and didn't want to try. No telling _what_ the repercussions of that could be. _**"Gotta love these reactions."**_

Rukia chuckled lightly. "Sure do. It might be a bit off topic, but how's Senna doing? Have you managed to keep Katsuo away from her?" She asked with an evil grin. The child of Kuukaku and Kenpachi was well known, and Tatsuki had told her some things that made her hope she was wrong.

Tatsuki hung her head dejectedly. "I _did_," she said as she looked up. Kuukaku looked at her with a grin and Tatsuki hung her head again. "Until she was _six_. They meet, and now all she wants to do is play with him. He beats her, she gets mad and beats him. She beats him, he gets mad and beats her! I can't even say anything about it, they're exactly like me and Ichigo were!" Her eyes widened and she slammed her head down on the table. "Dammit, I did _not_ need to say that."

It was like she was scared if she said it out loud she'd be admitting something to herself she didn't want to admit. At least Katsuo had better manners than his father. Kuukaku _was_ a noble after all, though she didn't act it most of the time.

Everyone laughed, with as the case had been so far, the exception of Soi-Fong. She clearly didn't care about their stories, and was as she had been the whole night. That is, on the other side of Yoruichi, broodingly drinking her Sake. Even with both her beloved Yoruichi and Kin there, she couldn't find it in herself to be happy. All they talked about was their love lives, and she didn't have one of those. Hell, she still looked like a teenager, and would look even younger if she didn't constantly scowl. She felt like a kid surrounded by a bunch of models. She didn't even fit in with the conversation, and she was supposed to be an adult too!

A warm arm wrapped around her and she blushed instantly. "Y-Yoruichi-sama?"

The bronze-skinned woman smiled at her. "Come on Little Bee, loosen up! We're here to have some fun remember? Remember fun?"

She nodded as she took another drink. "I am," she lied smoothly.

"Riiiiiiiiight," Rangiku slurred. "You look like you're having a _blast_. You know what your problem is? You're too pent-up!"

Soi-Fong turned a rather outrageous shade of red. "E-Excuse me!?"

Nel turned to her with a confused expression. "You know, pent-up: frustrated, tense, uptight, hot and bothered—"

"I know what she meant!!" The Second Division captain cut off embarrassedly. The former Espada had simply gone into the explanation like it was nothing!

Yoruichi looked at her critically as she rubbed her chin exaggeratedly. "I think they're on to something. You really do need to get laid!"

The petite woman almost spontaneously combusted right there. "Y-Yoruichi-sama!?!" She seemed appalled her idol would actually agree with that assessment.

"Well come on then, when's the last time you've tangoed?" Asuka questioned with her ever-present grin on her face. Soi-Fong merely started sputtering while all of her pale flesh that wasn't hidden under her clothes turned a very dark shade of red, probably from both embarrassment _and_ anger. Asuka's eyes widened. "You're kidding," she breathed in disbelief. "Aren't you like, two hundred or something!?"

She contemplated putting her foot in the blue-haired hybrid's face, but thought against it in the end, no matter how tempting it was. It was simply the girl's personality that made her talk like she did. Still, she was in no mood to put up with it, and the others seemed interested in her too now, which meant she should leave. Right then.

She was running to the stairs and was so preoccupied she didn't see that someone _else_ was also coming _up_. Thus, she was surprised when she ran into the brick wall that was suddenly in front of her.

"Ow! Dammit, watch where you're going, jackass!" she cried as she rubbed her poor nose.

When she looked up she couldn't help but freeze solid.

She had run into a _man._ Long jet-black hair went down into bright blond tips, a veritable waterfall of raven bangs that flowed down the sides of his face and well past his shoulders. A slender black patch covered his right eye and went behind his head into the tie for his ponytail, which in itself was almost to the middle of his back. He was a good foot taller than her, but that wasn't surprising since she was barely five feet tall. His face looked like it had been carved from stone, and his eyebrows were scrunched into a scowl so much like her own. She noted his dress almost instantly after that just for their irregularity, where an odd shirt with sleeves styled after a kimono concealed his hands, and two art portfolio carriers had been slung over his shoulder. An electronic device hung around his neck, and was it not for the round earphones hanging on their wires beside it she would have had no idea what the tiny contraption was.

Even with his odd apparel that wasn't what stood out. What stood out most was his one visible eye. It was violet. Not the dark hue so deep it was almost black like Rukia's, but a bright purple reminiscent of an amethyst in sunlight. Ice blue specs of pigment speckled through the breathtaking color and she found herself staring at that eye and wishing his other was uncovered. She quickly shook her head as she snapped to awareness.

_What the hell was that!?_

She looked at him again and his scowl was still firmly in place, but now that she had stumbled back he could get a better view of her. She watched in fascination as his eye widened in surprise, and continued to widen as he took in the other females at the long table off to the side. To her surprise, he bowed his head to her, and then to the group, though she noticed his gaze lingered on Kuukaku for longer than the others. She couldn't understand why.

That was when she felt it. Reiatsu. He wasn't a normal human, and apparently he knew who they were, or at least who some of them were. There was no reason for him to bow his head otherwise.

"Excuse me. I was told there was still a table available up here." His voice was a calm, biting tenor, calculating and hard, but still gentle enough to pass for respectful. He didn't seem to mind that she had crashed into him moments earlier. That, or he simply didn't care.

So now it was between leaving, going back to the table full of women that wanted nothing more than to continue teasing her about her love life, or showing them all up by going and sitting down with the admittedly handsome man that had just walked up the stairs.

For her, the decision was obvious. She had pride to salvage.

"There is. Would you mind if I joined you? I've had enough of my former company to last me a lifetime," she said, throwing a particularly hateful glare over at the mentioned company.

He shrugged and rolled his eye. The way he held himself reminded her a lot of herself. It was unnerving, really. Still, he was handsome enough to shut the others up and that was what mattered, even if she really didn't care about anything romantic. "Fine with me."

She held out her right hand in the friendliest manner she could muster. "I'm Soi-Fong."

He looked down on her outstretched hand warily before putting out his left. "I know." Confused, she took back her right to shake his hand with her left and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Gwydion."

Her eyebrow got higher. "Not Japanese is it?"

That violet eye she had been staring at narrowed. "Does it matter?"

This time it was she who shrugged. His name had just been unexpected, that was all. It was just as odd as the rest of him. "No, no I suppose it doesn't. Just commenting."

"A pleasure, I'm sure," he said as he bowed slightly again. She had to admit, it felt nice to be around someone who showed her the proper respect, despite her almost pubescent appearance.

"For some reason, I get the feeling the pleasure is all mine."

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…

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As a new window closes, another door unlocks

Fates are entangled, it just takes a knock

Which doors shall be chosen, on that it depends

But that which is certain, it now is…

THE END

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…

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**Author's Notes:** The poem at the end was unnecessary, but I had to do it, LOL! I like the feel it gives. Of course, I had to end with the revealing of one last cracktastic pairing that makes the strangest amount of sense in my weird mind, because while I love the child Nel in a parental Ichigo kind of way, the woman Neliel is so much better of a character.

Thank you for bearing through the sporadic updates; life and other writing continues to get in the way. Now I can start uploading the story spawned from this one! I know, it features another original character, but now Soi-Fong is the other main character. I hope I've made people understand my tenacity when it comes to keeping my original's out of the dreaded Mary-sue, Gary-stu thing, so naturally I'd like to see you all in the next installment!

I hope you enjoyed A New Window! Thanks for reading!


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